Proud to be Me
by Ms.Honey
Summary: The flock is on the run as usual until they are finally able to convince Max to settle down in Arizona. Disregards book 5 . What will happen when Ella is suddenly kidnapped and comes back with some major changes? formerly called "what's next?" FAX & EGGY
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I really hope you enjoy this story, and I'm sorry if it starts off slow, but I will get to the real action later, I promise. This is my first time writing fanfiction so bear with me here :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own maximum ride, it is all property of james patterson.**

**Now on with the show!**

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**-"Maaaaaaaaax!"**

Ugh, not this again. You'd think you could get at least a couple hours of shut-eye after flying for six long hours with a bunch of overly hyper birdkids.

"Maaaaaaax!"

Yeah, guess not.

I peeked one eye open from where I lay on my comfy bed of rocks and dirt (note the sarcasm). "Yes?" I practically growled out.

"I'm hungry." It was Nudge of course.

With a sigh, I hauled my tired butt off the ground and brushed some dirt off my jeans. It was a useless gesture considering my pants were so worn out and dirty that I was almost afraid they were gonna fall off right in the middle of an intense flyboy butt-kicking.

Nudge, noticing this as well, instantly went into full blabber mode. "Oh my gosh! Max you totally need new pants! In fact, we all do considering they're all dirty and gross and torn up. We can go to the mall! THE MALL MAX! We can shop for hours and buy tons of cute things and drink Orange Julius'! Have you ever had an Orange Julius Max? They're to die for! Oh, and we can-"

I quickly shoved a granola bar I managed to find in one of our backpacks into her mouth before we all died from listening to her excited chatter. I started to pass out the rest to the others.

"Ok guys, we don't have much food left so make this last. We're gonna have to start looking for food in the forest soon."

I handed one to my sweet little Angel who had just woken up. She was rubbing her blue eyes cutely and yawning.

She smiled when I got to her.

_Thanks Max,_

She told me in her head.

_Of course sweetie,_

I answered back.

Gazzy practically ripped the bar out of my hand when I got to him and Iggy caught his with amazing accuracy for a blind guy when I threw it to him. Total had already dug his way through my bag to find one and starting wolfing it down. That left just one person. Fang.

He was leaning on a tree and looking straight ahead with his usual emotionless mask on when I walked up to him.

"Hungry?" I asked dangling the bar in front of his face teasingly.

He looked up at me then with a ghost of a smile on his face. Even that tiny thing seemed to make the dark forest we were in just a little bit brighter.

Without a word, he reached for the granola bar, our hands brushing in the process. I couldn't help but notice how he let his hand linger on my mine for a moment.

What?! It's not like it's a big deal or anything. Geez, how much more girly can I get? Just that one little thing and my heart beats a bit faster.

Before my stupid hormonal reactions take control I turn to face my flock again with a strong air of authority. Afterall, I am the leader. I can't let other things distract me when our lives are at stake.

"Ok people, listen up. I know we all need showers, but there is no way we are staying in a hotel tonight. We are staying on the down low for a while just in case. However, I noticed a small pond and waterfall not too far from here when we were flying yesterday that we could wash up in. Sound ok?"

I got the usual "does it look like I even care?" look from Fang, a groan from Nudge, and a nod from everyone else.

We flew for about 2 minutes before spotting the waterfall I'd seen yesterday. It wasn't very big, but it lacked deadly fish, bombs, trash and that goopy stuff you find in lakes so it would just have to do. In fact, it twinkled like a diamond as the sunlight hit it, making it look mystical. Ok Max, cut the poetic crap and get down to business, I told myself, turning to face my flock.

"Alright then," I began, clapping my hands together like an overly cheery camp counselor, "girls first."

"What are we supposed to while you're gone?" The Gasman whined.

I sighed, " I dunno, just keep yourself occupied with berries and stuff." I said, glancing at some very juicy and might I say tasty looking berries that we just might have for dinner later.

Fang scoffed. "Berries and stuff?" He raised his eyebrow.

I ignored him. "Just stay out of trouble." After I caught a certain twinkle in Iggy and Gazzy's eyes I added, "That means NO BOMBS."

After we left them with that little "dilemma" we made our way back to the waterfall and stripped down. I could tell we all felt good to be rid of those disgusting clothes. They probably couldn't even pass for clothes anymore, that's how bad they were.

I eyed the water warily. It looked too pretty to be swimming in. We'd all probably turn its crystal blue surface to muddy brown the minute we jumped in.

Oh heck, it's hot, I'm tired, dirty and sweaty so why am I just standing here?

We all jumped in at once, and surprisingly, the water still looked beautiful. I swam over to the waterfall and stood underneath it, letting the water run through my hair. I closed my eyes and pretended it was a hot shower before I started to relax.

I sighed. Dr. Martinez, A.K.A my mother, had offered several times to let us stay at her house. If I could actually agree, I would get real hot showers, everyday if I'd like. Not too mention those positively delectable chocolate-chip cookies. And a soft bed, and clean clothes, and- STOP! I ordered myself. That can't happen. I winced as I thought of the negative side of living with my mom and Ella, my half-sister. For one, they might make us go to school. I was still recovering from Virginia, with all that schoolwork, those annoying teachers, and, ugh, Lissa! Not that I think about that anymore….hehehe. I chuckled nervously to myself, thinking that Angel might be listening in.

_I am,_

I heard a sweet voice in my head say.

_Angel, if you can't already tell, I am having a reflection time. Alone time. Me time. Max time,_

I stressed, trying to get her out of my head.

_But Max! It would be great if we could stay with Dr. Martinez! Why won't you let us?_

She protested, ignoring my requests.

_Because, what if something happened to them? We're still on the run here, we can't risk it. I could never forgive myself if I took that chance just so you and Nudge can play dress up with Ella and Total can be with his beloved Akila._

She didn't respond. I looked over to the other edge of the pond where she was in deep conversation. With a fish. A freaking fish! Yes, there were apparently little fish in here. And my frighteningly cute little Angel was talking to them. Just another freaky fact about my abnormal family.

I looked down at my hands, which were starting to resemble prunes. "Come on guys, I think we're clean enough for another week or so. The boys have got to be bored out of their minds. Everyone out!" I ordered.

I stood up, ready to reach for my clothes since there were no fluffy towels available here.

_There would be at Dr. Martinez's house,_

Angel added annoyingly. I just rolled my eyes. Angel's own eyes widened. I cocked an eyebrow at her silently asking what was wrong. She looked towards to the trees and said, "Max, Fang and Iggy-

She never finished that sentence because at that moment, they boys walked into the clearing, "What's taking so long?" Iggy asked.

The other boys stopped dead in their tracks.

"Oh my god! Eeeew!" Gazzy cried, and ran away.

Fang's cheeks turned a faint pink and he quickly ducked his head down. The other girls yelped and ducked behind a bush. I, being clearly confused, just stood there, "Whaaaaaat?" Then I looked down. Oh no, I was still naked. Oh crap!

Just another little story to add to my memoir later.

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**I really hoped you liked it! Whether you did or not, I would really like it if you would review and tell me if I should continue or not. I'll also be writing a one-shot called, "Max Ride Girlified" so watch out for that one coming soon.**

**Review, review, please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sadly, I haven't gotten any reviews for my first chapter, but hopefully, this next one will be better. **

**Once again, this is my first fanfiction so please go easy on me :)**

**I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope ya'll enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: maximum ride and all of its affiliated characters belong to james patterson, not me.**

**Now on with the show!**

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After that whole humiliating situation was over, I managed to maintain a little dignity by shooing the boys away and getting dressed quickly.

Nudge, Angel, and I switched places with the boys and sat around a tree nearby. Everything was quiet and I could hear birds chirping and the faint sound of the waterfall when Nudge decided to interrogate me.

"Sooooooo, Maxxxxxxxxx" She began, drawing it out slowly.

"Yes?" I asked, looking at her expectantly.

"What's going on with you and Fang?" One of the shortest sentences she'd ever said in her life, and yet I wished she'd never said it. I could already feel my cheeks heating up.

I tried to play it cool anyways. "What do you mean?" Thank whatever god there may be that Nudge couldn't read minds, too!

She huffed. "You know what I mean Max. Those looks you always give each other, how your face lights up when he smiles. The connection, it's there. We can all see it. Even Iggy." I was too flustered to laugh at her small joke.

I could feel my cheeks beginning to heat up. "I don't know what you're talking about." My fingers were now absentmindedly tracing swirly patterns in the dirt.

"Well, if it means anything, we don't care. It wouldn't bother us if you and Fang were a couple ya know? It would be just like having a mom and dad! You'd be the mom and Fang would be the dad, obviously but-

I started to drown out Nudge's rambling on why Fang and I should be a "thing".

_Angel?_

I asked in my head.

_Yeah Max?_

_Would you mind changing the subject?_

Angel mind-giggled as a response and said,

_Ok._

Uh oh. There was a mischievous undertone to her answer that made me wary.

"Hey Max. I was thinking that we should go visit Ella and for a while. It would be so much fun! We could even go shopping!"

As soon as Nudge heard "shopping" she immediately shut up. Oh great. Angel was pretty devious for a six-year-old when it came to this type of thing.

"Yeah Max, we should! Oh my gosh think of all the things we could do!" Nudge said excitedly, a bright smile lighting up her face.

I turned to glare at Angel, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. It was the Bambi eyes, they got me every time. She was just too darn cute!

"You guys, we just can't. There are too many risks. Besides, do you really want to go back to school again?"

Angel nodded enthusiastically. "I liked it! Especially when I played Swan Lake with my friends." Nudge nodded in agreement.

"But is it really worth risking Ella and my mom's lives?" I asked, hoping they could see things from my perspective.

"Well be fine! Dr. Martinez can take care of us, I just know it." Nudge said determinedly. I could tell no of them was going to falter.

Couldn't anyone see how dangerous this could be?

**(A/N Ha, that's rhymed! "See and Me", get it? Ah, well, I tried ^__^)**

** Fang POV**

Iggy and Gazzy had just cannonball into the water as I carefully folded my black attire and set it on a rock. What? You didn't think Mr. Emotionless tough guy would do that? Well, the truth is, there's more to me than meets the eye. I'm actually pretty neat and tidy when it comes down to it and I don't have to worry about fighting flyboys all the time. Just something most people wouldn't guess. Max even laughed at me for it sometimes.

Just thinking of Max was kind of awkward at the moment, considering the fiasco that happened earlier. Iggy, of course, still didn't understand the entirety of the situation considering that he couldn't actually_ see_ anything. But trust me, I saw enough for the both of us. I wished I could go back in time to stop it from ever happening. Don't get me wrong, Max is extremely beautiful, but seeing her like that wasn't worth it when I saw how mortified she was at the end of it all. Being the tough girl that she is, she just muttered "sexist pigs" under her breath and shooed us away, acting like it didn't bother her.

Seeing her in pain hurt as me as well, and she was definitely in pain right now. I'm guessing it was because we were constantly on the run and couldn't seem to catch a break. It seemed like one thing was always leading to another and she was always reminded of her duty to save the world instead of living like a normal teenager. Well, as normal as a teenager with _wings _could be.

I waded in the water for a while, and tried to think things through. Should I talk to Max? All this running (flying) all the time wasn't good for any of us. The younger kids especially needed a good, stable home to grow up in where they could feel safe. And, there weren't any immediate threats at the time so why not?

"Aww man! Not again Gazzy!" I heard Iggy cry. Total barked and swam to shore.

My eyes shot to their direction where little bubbles were forming around the surface by the Gasman. He just floated there with an innocent smile.

"Ok, everyone out!" I cried.

**Max POV**

We had just landed after a few hours of flying and were trying to get our bearings. We were currently in the beautiful state of New Mexico and were taking in the landscape. Yes, I am aware that New Mexico is basically just one big, dry desert, but it had its perks. It wasn't called "The Land of Enchantment" for nothing. With its vast skies, and warm weather it seemed like the perfect place to settle down for the evening.

The kids were trying to find some food as Fang gently grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. "Max? Can we talk?" He sounded strange, but I went with it anyways.

"Um, sure." I answered uncertainly. Had Angel told him about our conversation earlier?

We flew not too far away and sat down on the ground, facing the horizon that was bursting with the bright colors of the sunset.

We just sat there in silence, enjoying the landscape. Suddenly, I felt something on my shoulders and discovered that fang had draped his arm over them. I felt comfortable and claustrophobic at the same time, not knowing his intentions. In any case, I laid my head on his shoulder and sighed happily.

"Max?"

"Yeah?" I replied. Then I saw something. A look. _The_ look to be exact. The look he got that time in the cave when he was trying to "convince" me to stay. It was the same look he had on the dock not too long ago when he kissed me. I didn't know whether to stay put or use my super speed to fly away as soon as possible. He started to lean down and…

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**Hope you liked it!**

**Please oh please brighten my day a little bit by reviewing this story!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews I got! There weren't many so I am very thankful to all of you who took the time to do that :)**

**In this next chapter is a little bit of Fax, but not much. Sorry to disappoint those fax-lovers out there but I promise there will be more fax in later chapters.**

** Max just needs to get it through her hard head that she and Fang are meant to be together!**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride and all of the characters. I only own this particular plot, sadly :(**

**Now on with the show!**

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**previously:**

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"Yeah?" Then I saw something. A look. _The_ look to be exact. The look he got that time in the cave when he was trying to "convince" me to stay. It was the same look he had on the dock not too long ago when he kissed me. I didn't know whether to stay put or use my super speed to fly away as soon as possible. He started to lean down and…

gently kissed my cheek. Phew, that was all. That's what brothers do, right? They sometimes kiss their sisters on the cheek. I'd seen Fang do it to Angel a couple times, so it was no biggie. At least that's what I told myself despite the fact that my heart was racing a mile a minute. _Stop it Max! No one should be allowed to have that kind of effect on you, not even Fang!_ I tried to calm myself down but it was useless. He already had me under his trap.

"Uh…" I said, trying to regain my voice, "so what did you want to talk to me about?"

He pulled me closer to him and I tensed slightly. He noticed this and rubbed my shoulder comfortingly. "Max, we can't keep doing this."

Even though I knew exactly what he was talking about, I decided to play dumb. "Doing what?"

"Moving all the time. It's not good for us, especially Gazzy and Angel. Don't you think you're just a little too paranoid?"

Ok, that was the last straw. I shot up out of his embrace and was towering over him in two seconds flat. "_Too_ paranoid Fang? Well excuse me for having to watch out for everyone all the time and being constantly attacked! Not only that but I have to freaking save the world!"

He was just sitting there, no emotion evident on his face. Figures.

"Max," he pleaded, "just listen."

_Listen to him Max._

Oh, just fabulous! The Voice was back. In case you didn't know, I have a voice in my head that talks to me –ahem- annoys me from time to time.

_Maybe he should be the one listening to me. How about that, smart one?_

The Voice chose to ignore my rude remark and went on as if I hadn't spoken.

_Fang may be only second in command, but he knows what he's talking about. Listen to him and things may start getting better. _

I was not going down without a fight!

_Are you kidding me? Since when have I been wrong?_

Ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration because even I make mistakes sometimes, but it was enough to get the Voice out of my head because it didn't reply.

Fang, who was finally getting used to me suddenly blanking out when the Voice paid me a little visit, sat there patiently.

"Ok, talk." I ordered him. I had to stay strong so he knew I wouldn't back down too easily.

" I know what you're thinking, Max."

"Oh yeah, what's that?" I challenged him. He shouldn't have a clue unless he and Angel had mind-spoken earlier, which wasn't likely considering we'd been together the whole time.

"You're thinking that you have to stand there looking tough with your arms crossed over your chest 'cause you don't want me to think you'll back down too easily." He said matter-of-factly.

What the flip?! I looked down. My arms weren't crossed- oh wait, yes they were. Darn that boy! I should have known that he knew me almost better than I knew myself.

He looked at me smugly. I kicked sand in his face.

After he finished spitting and spluttering he continued, "I think we should stay with Dr. Martinez. Think about it, we would have clean clothes, hot showers, and good food every day."

"Yeah, but what about the risks? I know we could protect ourselves, but what about my mom and Ella? They wouldn't stand a chance." I argued.

"Come on, when's the last time a flyboy actually attacked us?"

Ok, he had me there. It had been awhile since there had been any immediate threats.

"But…how can we be sure we're completely safe?" My voice was softer now. I was truly afraid for my Flock and I would die before I let anything happen to them.

Fang patted the ground next to him and I sat down hesitantly. He didn't try to put his arm around me this time, which was a plus. I mean, I didn't need any distractions (even if I enjoyed them_ just_ a little bit) when I was trying to make a point.

"No one is completely safe all the time. Life is about risks, but it's also about _living_. So let's live a little."

I pretended to gag. "How wonderfully deep of you, Fang."

He rolled his eyes. "Seriously. I'm sure we'll be okay if we just try it out for a little while." He rested his hand over mine. " Trust me."

I looked down at our two touching hands pointedly. " Are you trying to 'convince' me again?"

His face inched closer to mine. "Is it working?"

I stopped breathing for a second. Then I stumbled back a few feet to create more space between us. This was cheating!

He made this sound that sounded almost like a chuckle. Almost. Remember, we're talking about _Fang_ here, people. " I didn't know I had that effect you."

"What? What are you talking about? What effect?" Oh great, now I was stumbling over my words. The famous Maximum Ride without a witty comeback.

"You just proved my point." He said with a smirk.

"You don't have any effect on me." Nice one, Max. Real nice.

"Oh yeah? Then why did you jump away so quickly when I leaned closer to you?"

I stood up. "Sexist pig." With that, I flew back to the rest of the flock, leaving him in the dust- literally.

**Fang POV**

Well, that went well. Not. Of course I did manage to prove that she just might be as attracted to me as I was to her. But, man is she a pain! On the other hand, my talk with her didn't exactly go as planned. I got my main point across, but I think she was too wrapped up in her own opinion to really listen. Hmmm…maybe distracting her wasn't the best idea after all. She couldn't keep a straight thought. I couldn't help but feel a little proud of myself for that. Wow, my thoughts are all over the place right now. I guess that's what love does to you.

_You love her?_

Apparently Angel was listening in now.

_Yes, Angel, I think I do. Now, would you mind getting out my head?_

_In a minute. Did Max change her mind yet?_

_I'm not sure. She just flew away._

I could hear Angel sigh mentally.

_Did you try to kiss her again?_

Should I really be talking about this kind of thing with a little girl?

_Yeah, sorta._

_Why? You know she always runs away when you do that._

I ran a hand wearily over my face.

_Yeah, I know. For some reason I thought it might help._

_Well it didn't! Don't do that again for a while. Let her come to you on her own time, I know she will. She just needs a little bit of time._

I did a double take. What did she just say?

_Are you sure your only six years old?_

She giggled in response.

_Just don't do that again Fang, ok? At least not until we're settled down at Ella's._

_How do you know Max will let us go?_

It was silent for a moment.

_I have my ways Fang._

Whoa. Creepy much? For an irresistibly cute little girl she sure knew how to take control of a situation.

_Does this involve Bambi Eyes?_

I asked hesitantly.

_Maybe…_

Uh oh.

**Max POV**

Just minutes after I had joined everyone else, Fang arrived as well. His face was blank like nothing had happened. We always did this after we had an awkward encounter. It was easier to not bring it up then make a big deal out of it in front of Iggy and the younger kids.

While Fang was talking to the other boys (I could practically hear Iggy waggling his eyebrows suggestively at what Fang and I might have been doing while we were gone) Angel suddenly put her tiny hand into mine and pulled me aside.

"Is everything ok?" I asked, worrying that something had happened before I got back.

"Kind of." She shuffled her feet in the dirt.

I bent down to eye level with her. "Tell me what's wrong, sweetheart."

"It's just that I really wish we weren't always on the run. I wish we could go with Dr.M and Ella because Total really misses Akila and we all miss sleeping in beds and stuff."

I stroked her hair. "I know. I just can't help thinking that's a bad idea. I know you might be upset with me but our safety comes first, no exceptions."

She suddenly looked into my eyes with so much sadness and pleading that my heart practically broke in two. I became entranced. I hated seeing my baby upset. "Pleeeeeeaaase Max?"

She completely and totally had me. I don't know if it was Fang's convincing, Angel's Bambi eyes, or the overall fact that I was completely and utterly exhausted, but I agreed. "Ok, tomorrow morning we'll head off to Arizona. Now run off and tell everyone else, I need to think a while."

Angel nodded and clapped her hands excitedly. "Thanks, Max! I love you!" She exclaimed before running off.

I looked back at the calming sunset and breathed in the open air. Was I really doing the right thing?

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**Ella and Dr. Martinez in the next chapter! Plus a little bit of Eggy! yay!**

**Thanks for reading, and once again, please oh please review because it**

**always puts me in a good mood to know that someone has read my story!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again! I know it's been a few days since I've updated, but school has been taking up most of my time, so the only time I found to write was during the end of math class or at lunch in a notebook, and then transfer it to my computer. **

**Anyways, I was super glad that I had more reviews this time! Thanks again to those who took the time to do that for me =]**

**I know this chapter was supposed to include Ella and Dr.M, and it does, but only at the end and in some phone-conversation dialogue. The next chapter will have more though, I promise. Also, a little Eggy ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own maximum ride, it all belongs to james patterson. **

**Now on with the show, ya'll!**

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The rest of the flock was absolutely ecstatic when I told them the good news. Especially Iggy, I noticed with a smirk.

"Now you get to see Ella again, Iggy!" Angel exclaimed happily. I swear his face turned five different shades of red when she said that.

"Yeah, Ella's…nice." We all knew he thought she was_ more _than nice, but we figured we'd leave the poor guy alone already because he couldn't see our meaningful looks (wink wink) and smiles anyways.

Suddenly, Total bounded up to me with a stack of papers in his mouth.

"Whatcha have there?" I asked him, eyeing what must have been at least fifteen papers.

"Poetry. For my darling Akila." He clarified.

I sighed. "Total, you do realize Akila can't read, right?"

He attempted to puff out his chest. "Then I'll read it to her."

I shook my head. What a hopeless case!

I looked at the carefully written cursive on the papers and Total's lack of opposable thumbs. "How did you write this, anyways?"

"Fang did it." He said simply.

My eyebrows shot up. "F-fang?" What a joke!

"Yep. I just recited the poetry while he wrote everything down."

Huh. Who knew Fang was such a hopeless romantic?

As if he read my mind, Total said, " Fang understands true love. He knows that love knows no boundaries and once it begins, it never dies."

I was sure Fang's writing was more like chicken scratch then that loopy cursive Total's poetry was written in. Then again, Fang was constantly surprising me, so there was definitely a chance I had just overlooked the fact that he does have a sensitive and/or emotional side because he was always hiding it. Except for whenever he tries to kiss me. Hmmmm…boys are just way too confusing to me.

There was still something baffling about this whole thing. "How do you know that Fang has such a strong opinion about love? He never talks about that kind of thing in front of anyone."

"Because," Total huffed impatiently, "He helped me come up with some of it. Like this part here." He pointed to a specific section. It said,

_When I see you my heart skips a beat and my stomach fills with butterflies_

_I love everything about you, especially your eyes._

_I can't imagine life without you; you're everything I see._

_I just want you to know how much you mean to me._

Ok, so it wasn't the best poetry around, but it was dang good for someone who's only had a few months of school in their entire lifetime. Plus, it was a side of Fang he didn't like to show, which is probably why he didn't bother to mention it to the rest of us.

I cleared my throat. "Um…wow."

Once I got over the initial shock, I rounded everyone up. "Ok everybody, we can't just barge in so we're gonna have to make a stop at a town nearby to give them a quick call. Sound ok?"

"Does it involve food?" Was the general reply.

I thought about it for a second. There was just enough money left on my Max Ride Card for one last meal. Besides, my mom would be taking care of food for a while anyway. That was an odd thought. Someone _else_ having that responsibility besides the teenage mutant ninja bird-girl. Ok, so I wasn't a ninja exactly, but it sounded cool.

"Yeah, why not." I answered.

"Yes! Real food! Finally!"

"Gazzy…" I said warningly.

"What?" He shrugged. "I'm hungry."

"True dat." Nudge agreed. Since when did she talk like that? The things kids can pick up when they travel from city to city all the time…

I gave her a look.

She smiled at me innocently. "Let's go homies!" she said, and with that, we took off.

A few hours later, we were all contently full. It only took about a million hamburgers and hotdogs (won't go in to the same old boring story about the waitress's reaction to our orders 'cuz that can get boring after a while), but at least we had finally eaten a nice, hot meal.

We had managed to borrow a cell phone from some kind old lady who took pity on us when she saw the rags we were wearing. Boy, was it hard not to start cracking up right then and there when we saw the look of sympathy on her face!

Now, I was standing with my back to the flock and listening to the phone ring. It felt like hours before my mom finally picked up the phone, but eventually she did, squealing "Max!" I didn't even need to identify myself, she just knew it was me. I knew for a fact that she'd been waiting for me to call her for weeks, which showed through the excitement in her voice.

"Hi mom, how have you been?" I tried to make casual conversation, but she wouldn't have it.

" Oh, don't mind me. How are you? How are the other kiddos doing? Are you guys ok? Have you eaten? Where are you?"

"Whoah, hold on! To answer your questions: I'm fine, getting better actually. The kids are good, too. We're all ok, not too many scratches or bruises at the moment. Yes, we just ate about an hour ago, and we are in some town in eastern New Mexico."

Of course, being the overprotective person she was, she chose to ignore all but one sentence of that entire thing. " Wait- did you say you didn't have _too_ many bruises and scratches? How many do you have exactly?"

" That's not the point, I was actually going to ask you something." I was getting a little impatient. And the little old lady was staring at me through these freakishly huge glasses that made her look like an owl.

"What is it? Do you need money?" My mom asked.

"No, not that. I was actually wondering if we could maybe stay with you." All I heard was silence.

"Um…mom? ? MOM!" What was she doing?

An excited voice suddenly came over the phone. "Oh my gosh, Max!"

"Ella? Where'd mom go?" Did she not want us to stay with her?

" To bake some cookies. I guess she just got a little overexcited. So when are you going to get here?" Wow, they didn't waste time, did they?

" Maybe in a few hours, depending how our wings will hold up in this wind." Having wings and all, it was essential to know how calculate the wind speed and the time it takes to get from place to place.

"Oh, ok. Hurry though, mom's being going crazy for weeks worrying about you guys. She's not usually this jumpy, but with the new and improved flyboys out and about she's just about out of her mind."

My jaw dropped. Fang gave me a cautious look. " _New and improved_ flyboys? How did we not know about this? Where are they? I mean, they could be anywhere and we wouldn't even be expecting it!" I whispered so the others couldn't hear. The old flyboys were bad enough, and just when I thought it would be safe to stay at Ella's I find out there's yet another pending threat!

Everyone else was starting to get worried so I gave them a small smile. No need to worry them now. I have to think of a way to fix this without them knowing. Then again, if we were suddenly attacked, they wouldn't be prepared. Argghhhh! Being the leader was so tough when you have to make such hard decisions!

"Max? Forget I said that, okay?" Ella sounded nervous.

"Ella! Why would mom want to hide that from us? We could get hurt!"

"Well…she was afraid you guys wouldn't want to come if you knew." She replied so quietly I almost didn't hear it.

I don't know what it was, but all worries gone from my mind, I said, "Well, screw that! We'll be there soon."

I handed the cell phone back to the old lady wordlessly. Then, we all opened our wings, getting ready for takeoff. The lady blinked at us and raised her fingers in the sign of the cross and ran away muttering something in Spanish (and quite fast for her age, I might add).

As we flew away, Nudge called down, " Can't you tell the difference between a devil and an angel, lady? Angels have wings, duh!" I swear the lady practically fainted after that.

It was dark by the time we got there. My mom and Ella's house looked very cozy compared to the dark forests we'd been sleeping in. It looked so welcoming and

family-ish I almost cried. Almost being the key word. Maximum Ride does not cry! Well except for the time at the beach when I tried to take the chip out of my arm. I shuddered.

Fang noticed this and put a hand on my shoulder. "You ready? I know this wasn't exactly your first choice. Sorry for pressuring you." He looked down.

I patted his head awkwardly, which caused him to look up at me. "No big deal. Who knows? This could actually be good in the long run." I smiled and I'm pretty sure he smiled back. It was too hard to tell in the dark.

We walked to the door and stood on the front porch. The younger kids were bouncing up and down with face-splitting smiles on their faces. Dang, I'd really deprived them of the real world for a while, hadn't I?

"Knock already!" Iggy cried.

I smirked. " A little eager, are we?" I asked slyly.

"Just knock, Max!"

"Ok, ok!" I knocked swiftly, two times.

I heard footsteps running towards the door before Ella ripped it open with so much force she almost tore it off its hinges.

" Hey guys! Come on in." She waved us in frantically, peering intently into the darkness behind us as if she were looking for something.

"Everything alright?" I asked, glancing behind myself quickly.

She nodded. "Just excited to see you guys, that's all!"

"Hi Ella." Iggy greeted her shyly.

"Iggy!" Ella exclaimed while throwing her arms around him. "I've missed you!"

He blushed and hugged her back. "I've missed you too, Ella."

Ella then moved on to hug the rest of us. Even Fang sort of put his arm around her stiffly while looking away, but it was close enough.

My mom entered the room, wiping her hands on her apron as she came from the kitchen. "Hey kids! Have a safe trip over here?"

I hugged her quickly. "Yeah, about that, Ella told us-

"Come on, have some cookies! I've been baking them since you called earlier! A fresh batch just came out of the oven." She interrupted before I had a chance to mention the flyboys. Ella helped by hurriedly ushering the group into the kitchen while my mom stayed behind. I followed, but not before peeking a glance at my her long enough to see her lock about five different dead bolts on the door and close all of the curtains on the windows.

Ok, something was definitely up, and I was going to find out what it was!

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**Well, there ya have it! I know the end was kind of iffy, but it will all explain itself later on in the story. Also, I know Dr. Martinez is a little OOC, but come on, how would YOU feel if you were the mother of a teenage girl with wings? I for one, would not like it if that certain child of mine was flying all over the country with a bunch of other flying kids while there were tons of people out to kill them!**

**I will post the next chapter as soon as I can! Sorry if it's a little late but I will try to always post chapters within a week of each other, no more than that.**

**Review my darlings! Please! That would be fabulous :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again! I am so incredibly sorry for not updating in so long! I know I said I would never take any longer than a week to update, but my computer had some major issues. It really did. It was awful actually. The good news is, it should be fine now, so I have finally updated. I will however, have to change my promise a bit. I might not be able to update every week, but I will try my hardest. I am just really busy and my computer is really old, so it's difficult to have so many frequent updates. **

**This chapter is a decent size though, so it should make up for everything, I hope :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Now on with the show!**

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One hot shower and about fifty cookies later, I plopped down on my blow-up mattress with a contented sigh. I turned onto my side so my back was facing the door and I could look out the window at the starry night. I had agreed to sleep in Ella's room so Gazzy, Iggy and Fang could have one of the guestrooms and Nudge and Angel could share the other. I Initially thought that Nudge and Ella should room together because they were practically best friends but Ella had clutched onto my arm, saying, "No! Max needs to stay with me. We need to talk about…um…girl things."

I gave her a quizzical look. What did _I _know about girl things anyway? She shot me a desperate look back so I agreed in the end.

Just then, I felt a prickling sensation on the back of my neck. At first I thought it might be Ella ready for our "talk". But then again, I'd know that prickly feeling _anywhere_.

"Fang!" I cried. "Don't do that!"

I turned to face him, not expecting him to be so close. He was lying on his side, _right next to me_. Our noses were practically touching.

"Aaah!" I shot up instantly.

He remained there, doing something I never thought he'd do. He laughed. He was actually laughing at me! I was so surprised that my anger quickly faded away and I started laughing along with him. Soon we were both rolling around on the floor laughing like madmen. I really didn't know what the heck was funny anymore. Neither did he, which started another round of laughter. Then, we heard movement by the doorway. We stopped at once to check it out.

It was Iggy, staring with is sightless eyes into the room with a big grin on his face.

"Tsk tsk." He sneered. "I heard a lot of racket coming from this room so I decided to make sure you kids weren't doing something you're not supposed to." He started chuckling.

Fang and I looked at each other embarrassedly. Then, we both turned to glare at Iggy.

" We're glaring at you Iggy." Fang announced since Iggy obviously couldn't see us.

"Whatever. Just keep it PG in there, okay?" He replied.

With that, Fang picked himself off the ground and lunged at Iggy with enough force to kill. Seeing as how they were both genetically enhanced mutants none of them were actually hurt even though Fang now had Iggy pinned against the wall.

"What's going on?" I heard a voice from down the hall say. Oh shoot! Was it mom?

I saw Ella appear next to the boys. "Fang! What are you doing to him?!" She screamed. Then, she wretched Fang away from Iggy with surprising force. I could tell from the look on his face that he'd let her do it.

"Iggy, are you ok?" Ella asked, pulling him into a hug.

He smiled and patted her on the back. "I'm fine Ella. Thanks for saving me."

She pulled his fingers up to her face so that he could tell she was smiling. "No problem. What happened?"

I cleared my throat pointedly. "Uh, Ella? Didn't you say you wanted to talk to me about something?"

Ella pulled herself away from Iggy hurriedly. "Oh yeah! Can we do it now?" She walked into her room and sat on her bed expectantly. The boys ran downstairs, not wanting to hear the horrors of girl talk. I didn't either for that matter, but I wanted to be a good role model for Ella now that I was here.

I got up to close the door and said, "Ok. Go ahead."

The way she was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt told me that this talk might be more serious than I thought. Did this maybe have something to do with the way she and my mom were acting tonight? They were much more jumpy than usual, always looking out the windows and wanting to know everything we'd been up to since we'd last seen them.

"Mom's really worried about you, you know." She began, finally looking me in the eye.

I let out a bitter laugh. "Really? It was hard to tell."

"No, Max, I'm serious." She urged. "What I said on the phone wasn't a joke."

On instinct, I stood up, curling my fists at my sides, and glancing out the window anxiously. " Are you saying that there really are 'new and improved flyboys?" I asked through my teeth. Why oh why had I decided to come here?!

Ella nervously twirled a strand of hair around her finger as she answered. " Yes, there were dispatched about a week ago. We weren't able to call you and hadn't seen you on the news lately, so we didn't know where you were."

"So, what does this mean? Are we all in danger, or what? You and mom locking the doors and checking the windows every two seconds isn't going to help much if there are flyboys out there looking for us." I pointed out.

"No, Max! You haven't let me finish yet! You see, apparently the scientists at the school found a few glitches. All of the flyboys have been sent back for the time being." She explained.

I let out a sigh of relief. Ella noticed this and glanced at me warily.

"What?" I demanded. "Is there more?" She flinched back. I instantly felt sorry for being so snappy with her, but my family's safety was not something to be taken lightly. I lightened up a bit, to show that I wasn't mad at her, but rather, everyone who was so bent on hurting my family.

"Well, we had a visitor the other day." She looked at the wall, not making eye contact.

"Who?" I wondered aloud. Embarrassingly enough, I began to worry that it might have been Brigid, Fang's favorite little scientist. There was no way in heck I wanted her anywhere near him- er…I mean _us_ at a time like this! Even if she was freakishly intelligent…

"Max, why is your face so red?" Ella suddenly pointed out.

"Uh…just hot in here I guess. I mean, this is Phoenix, right?" She just nodded. Nice save, Max.

_Yeah, nice save, Max._

A voice giggled in my head.

_Angel! Ella and I are talking right now, sweetie. Please go play with Nudge or something for a few minutes._

_Ok, Max._

Now I could hear little feet running down the stairs.

"So," I looked at Ella again, who was now biting her nails. Geez, that girl has a lot of nervous habits! "Who came to visit the other day?" I prompted.

"Oh yeah, that. It was Jeb." She mumbled.

"Jeb?" I repeated, anger bubbling on the surface, threatening to spill at any moment. Ok, so _yes_, Jeb was my father, but that didn't mean I had to like him. In fact, I don't think I would ever forgive him for all of the rotten things he's done over the past few years.

"Yeah, he came to warn us." Her brown eyes, so like mine in fact, widened a fraction.

Jeb? A warning? Pssshh, whatever! He couldn't seriously be trying to help us. His definition of help is quite the opposite, actually.

"He said the School has newer, bigger plans for you guys."

I inspected my nails carelessly. "So? What else is new?" I pretended to yawn. The School always had "newer, bigger plans" for us.

"He said this could involve other bird kids. I think that means there are other kids like you other there."

I shuttered. More bird kids? Well, the world just keeps on getting better and better everyday, doesn't it?

"He also wanted me to remind you to take this seriously. He said it isn't about fun and games anymore, it's time to really get to work now." The way Ella was looking at me now, it was frightening. It was awe, and wonderment, and something else I couldn't pinpoint exactly. At that moment, I exploded.

"Fun and games! Since when has it been about fun and games? Never! How dare Jeb say that!" I growled out. I pulled at the roots of my hairs in frustration. "I hate this! I don't want to freaking save the work, ok? I just want to be normal!" I took a few deep breaths to calm myself.

"M-max?" Ella stuttered. Then she burst into tears. Oh great. I was not a fan of tears. Anyway, it was enough to worry me. She _was_ my sister after all, and I was the one who made her cry.

"Ella? I'm sorry, Ella, I didn't mean to!" I said frantically, trying to get her to calm down. "I'm sorry I blew up like that! Jeb just makes me so mad, and I couldn't take it anymore." I tried to soothe her by stroking her hair like I do to Angel sometimes.

After a few moments, she sniffled and said, "Max, it wasn't your yelling that made me upset. It was…just…that…I'm so…so…"

She seemed to be searching for the right words. "So what? It's okay Ella, just say it." I lifted her chin to meet her tear-filled eyes with my own.

"_Jealous_." She stated, looking ashamed of herself.

"W-what?" I staggered back, confused.

"I'm jealous of you." She said, more strength in her voice now.

In my surprise, I laughed. "Are you serious?" I giggled. Yes, I giggled. Get over it people, it was not a girly reaction or anything. That only happens with Fang. Wait- what? Oh never mind, forget I said that.

"Yeah, I am." She nodded her head vigorously.

"But…WHY?" This whole concept was completely ridiculous to me. My life was far from perfect.

"It's just that you're so strong, brave, and beautiful. People love you, you know." She looked at me seriously.

"They do?" I said, bewildered. My hair's always tangled, my clothes are always dirty, I'm not the girliest girl around, and I eat like a dog. What's there to like, exactly?

"Mmhmm. Don't you read Fang's blog?"

"No." I thought about it. I really didn't read Fang's blog anymore. It was getting way too crowded with adoring fangirls lately.

"Well, they do." She insisted. "Out of the all the people in the world, YOU are the one who was chosen to save the world. Just think about it!"

I thought about. Nope, not anymore interesting then a bug stuck on the bottom of my shoe. Not that saving the world wasn't an important task, but what did "saving the world" mean exactly? It seemed like everyone bent on saving it was really just destroying it in the long run. The by-half plan is one of those insane examples.

"And the _wings_!" She sighed dreamily. "You all have, them. But not me." She pouted.

I absently stroked one of my feathers. "These old things?" I said jokingly.

She reached out to stroke them as well. "They're just so magnificent. And beautiful of course."

"Um…thanks." This was kind of strange. I can see how someone without wings would think of them that way, but to me they just…weren't.

"What's it like to fly?" Ella suddenly blurted out.

I thought about that for a moment. To me, flying was just as natural as walking. First you crawl, as in flapping around in circles about three feet above the ground. Then, you walk, as in getting a little higher every day, flying to the tops of trees and sitting on their wide branches, or gazing at the sky-view of your house. Lastly, you run, as in seeing how high and fast you can go, twirling, flipping, and feeling as though no one can touch you. It was very exhilarating, really.

"It's nice." I said simply.

Ella sighed exasperatedly. "Yeah, but what's it _like_? I mean is it like a roller coaster where your heart plummets to your stomach. Or is it calming, or crazy, or fun? Does it make you giddy? Does it make you feel powerful, like no one can hurt you? I bet it's like that, it would just be so much fun to-"

"Ella! Just wait a second!" I cried. Wow. That was quite a rant there. I see Nudge has taught her well. The truth was, flying was all of those things. It was crazy, fun, calming, just a mix of everything, really.

"Sorry, I'm just so curious. You don't understand." She said, turning away from me.

"How do you mean?" I asked tentatively.

"How can you not like it all? The fame, the excitement, the glory?" She replied to the wall, which she was currently facing.

"Listen, Ella. Sure, having wings is all of those things, but there are things you just don't understand. Firstly, my flock is always in danger. Always. We can never seem to catch a break.

"Second, we can never just blend in. Because of these wings we are always different, always abnormal. We can't go too many places in public without people getting suspicious. If we ever wanted to just go to school and just be well, teenagers, that's nearly impossible to do.

"Plus, I have to save the world. I know all of that "but you'll be a hero!" crap, but frankly, I don't care. I really don't care about all the pride and the glory. Not that I want our world to go down in flames, I just don't know how to protect it the right way. I don't even know why I was chosen in the first place!

"Lastly, I'm really grateful to have found you and mom and everything, but it makes me feel guilty for the rest of my family. No one really knows who their real parents are. We've tried to find them, but it hasn't turned out too great. Take Iggy, for example, his parents were no more interested in him than you're interested in a pair of new shoes. You see, Ella? My life isn't all it's cracked up to be."

She was silent now. "I still think it's pretty awesome." She said finally, before walking out of the room.

Not two minutes later Fang entered the room quietly. "Yo." He said.

"Very chatty today, aren't you?" I said sarcastically. I sat down on my air mattress and patted the spot next to me. He sat down and looked me in the eyes.

"What was that about? I heard screaming." He noted curiously.

"Girl stuff." I responded, hoping that would get him off my case.

He scoffed. "Yeah right, Max. I know you better than you give me credit for."

_True._

I thought grudgingly.

"Ella just wanted to know what life on the run was like. She said she was jealous of me." I said with a small chuckle.

He, however, did not find that funny. "Why is that so hard to believe? What teenage girl in this world doesn't have a reason to be jealous of you?"

My cheeks darkened a little. Was that a compliment, or did his words have some sort of meaning I wasn't picking up on?

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

He sighed. "Max, don't you see? You're smart, tough, pretty, and you always try to do the right thing."

My breathing picked up a bit. "R-really? You think that?" Oh, just fabulous! I was stuttering. No one makes Maximum Ride stutter! Not even my wonderful Fang. Arrrgggh! Oh God, when will this madness end?!

Just then, something happened that made both Fang and I jump up in fighting stances. Little red lights were blinking in the hallways and an alarm was going off, saying, "Intruder, intruder". Metal shutters came down over all of the windows and mom called us down to join the others.

"Max! Fang! Please get down here, fast! Hurry!" My mom shouted.

We looked at each other briefly before rushing down the stairs.

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**Well there you have it, folks! I hope you liked the sisterly-love. And that teensy weensy bit of Fax and Eggy. Upcoming chapters will contain more action, for sure. Maybe not so much the next one, but some intense stuff in chapter 7.**

**Please, please review! I love each and every review I get, they always make me so happy!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello readers! I am back after a month….:( I almost considered not writing this fanfiction anymore because it is really hard finding time to work on it with everything going on at school, but I went and re-read all my wonderful reviews and it gave me plenty of inspiration to keep going. I don't really know often I will updating from now on, but as long as you keep reviewing it will give me the drive to want to write and write and write to make you people happy!! **

**Disclaimer: I don't know own the strong, powerful, witty Maximum Ride character, her books, or any of James Patterson's fabulous characters. **

**So after that cliffy…..on with the show!**

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What was going on? The entire house was on full lock-down mode and my mom was completely freaking out. Everyone was in the living room, sitting quietly on the couch. The rest of the flock looked pretty relaxed; they were used to this kind of thing. Ella, however, sat in a separate reclining chair near the fireplace with wide eyes.

She turned to Iggy, who was coincidentally the closest to her. "Are we going to be okay? Are they coming to get us? I don't know how to fight, what do I do?" Apparently she had inherited the worry-gene from our dear old mother.

And what would _Iggy _say to a damsel in distress? Well, first he gave her this sly smile, which in my opinion was completely creepy, but Ella seemed to like it. Then he said, "Don't worry Ella, everything is going to be okay. If anything happens, I'll protect you."

Fang and I looked at each other, amusement dancing in our eyes. We were careful to turn our quiet laughter into coughs.

My mom rolled her eyes at us and pointed her finger at a door near the staircase. "Ok, kids, everyone down to the basement. It's the safest place." She turned the lights off in the living room, leaving us in darkness.

We followed her to the old basement door that creaked when it opened. The alarms were still going off and my ears were starting to ring. Angel came and took my hand as we made our descent down the narrow steps into the dark room below.

My mom flipped on the lights that revealed that the basement was much larger than I had thought. The carpet was black and the leather furniture was grey. There was a metal door that led to a small bathroom off to the side. It was like a top-secret hideout. What surprised me the most was what I saw when I looked up at the walls.

"Mom!" I gasped. "Why do you have so many GUNS in here?" Tons of them lined the walls, hung carefully and gleaming as if they had never been used. How did she even afford this?

My mom smiled at me sheepishly. "Well, I thought it was for the best. What with these new fly-thingies running around I thought we might need some protection."

"Flyboys." I corrected. "And this is insane, you know."

Iggy suddenly turned his body in my direction. "Max, I hear someone in the house."

Everyone instantly tensed. We remained silent in order to be able to hear the sounds from upstairs better, and sure enough we heard footsteps near the door.

My mom randomly grabbed a gun off the wall and held it unsteadily, not expecting the weight of it. She started to make her way up the stairs. "You're in charge Max! I'm going to go check out the situation." She was one brave woman, thinking she could just march up there and fight whatever was on the other side of that door!

I instantly beat her there and stood in front of the door with my arms crossed. No way was I going to let her go out there! "Whoah, there! How about I go?"

She looked at me uncertainly and worry crossed her features. I shot a desperate look at Fang silently pleading for his help.

"She's right, Dr.M. You shouldn't be the one to go out there."

I smiled gratefully. "Thank y-" I started to say, but he interrupted me.

"I should." He stood defiantly, challenging me to say otherwise. Did he seriously think I wouldn't?

"No way Fang! I'm the leader and therefore I will be the one to see what's going on up there!" He didn't say anything, just shook his head slowly.

Both he and I knew neither of us was going to give in so he offered a solution. "How about we go together, but Dr. Martinez stays here with everyone else?"

My mom still looked scared, but she grudgingly agreed.

Fang's dark eyes stared intently into my own. "Deal?" He asked.

I made myself looked away. "Deal." I sighed to show that I was still annoyed, but in a moment he was standing beside me and surprisingly, I started to feel better knowing that he was going with me.

"Here!" My mom called. She tossed a couple of guns at us, which we caught easily.

I looked at the heavy, dark object in my hand. "Um, I don't think this will be necessary."

"Yeah, I don't need anything but my pure muscle power, anyway." Fang said. I rolled my eyes at him. Even as we gave our guns back, he looked at his longingly so I punched him in the arm to bring him back to reality. He winced.

"Hey, I just thought that pure muscle could handle a good blow every once in a while." I teased.

He glared at me. I shrugged. "Ok, everyone get in the bathroom and lock the door just in case someone tries to get in when we slip out." I ordered, and my mom hurriedly (but gently) shoved everyone behind the big metal door and I heard a lock click into place.

I started to make my way out the door, but Fang caught my shoulder and protectively moved in front of me. I glared at him, "Ladies first." I stated, and shoved him out of the way.

Back in the living room, the lights were still off so the pitch-blackness enveloped us in an uncomfortable way. Thankfully, our enhanced vision and hearing helped us, but it made me weary knowing that someone or some_thing_ could be hiding somewhere.

I could faintly see Fang's silhouette in the darkened room, so I unconsciously moved closer. We both turned to each other when a sound near the front door caught our attention. It was the sound of breathing. Human breathing. At least I thought so. The flyboys were getting more human-like every day, so it was hard to judge what it might be.

Fang and I looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. I ran to the couch, where I remembered a blanket was lying from when Angel had been napping earlier. I took a hold of two corners, and Fang grabbed the others. Together, we ran towards the direction of the breathing. Ahh, sweet success! We had run straight into somebody, and we instantly collaborated to throw the large blanket over its head, disabling its arms and throwing it off track. It was definitely human, or at least had the body of one. It could be a robot for all we knew.

It was trying to talk, but all we heard were small snippets of muffled words. "Hey-….mmmfff." The creature struggled inside the blanket and began thrashing its legs when Fang grabbed them so that I had the top and he had the bottom so we could easily maneuver back into the basement and down the stairs.

Thanks to teamwork, we easily made it easily down and we set the "thing" on one of the leather couches. It was still struggling and mumbling something so I suggested that we lift the blanket off on the count of three. We needed to know why it was here, and we wouldn't be able to ask it if we somehow suffocated it. Fang nodded and braced himself to hold down its legs if necessary.

"Ok, one…two…three!" We lifted the blanket off in one fluid motion and blinked at our victim in shock. He stared back at us with wide eyes behind his glasses and his hair was sticking up in all directions.

"J-Jeb?"I choked out. "What in the #%$ are you doing here?!" I won't say what #%$ means….

Fang released his legs and stood in a fighting stance next to me. My hands were on my hips in that annoying-teenage-daughter-way I just knew Jeb would_ love_. After all, he was the father of a teenage girl and he needed to realize that that job came with consequences. He sighed impatiently at us and pinched the bridge of his nose. How terrifically fatherly of him to do. Yuck.

Just then, the bathroom door opened, and out tumbled the rest of the flock along with Ella and my mother. "Jeb!" she cried, and ran to give him a hug. I looked on with disgust as he embraced her affectionately and patted her head.

Then, my disgust soon turned to amusement as she turned and slapped him right across the face. "Don't you ever do that again!" Some of us looked at her in surprise and wonderment while Fang and I struggled not to laugh.

Jeb hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry Valencia, I just came here to…" he looked at all of us and trailed off uncomfortably. He suddenly looked up and grinned. "I see the new security system is working wonderfully!"

"Don't try to change the subject, my dear father!" I sneered. "Whatever you have to say to my mom you can say to the rest of us."

He looked down at the floor thoughtfully for a moment or two before replying, "Well, I suppose you, Fang, and Iggy can stay and hear what I have to say, but the rest of the kids need to go back upstairs."

I turned to Gazzy, Nudge, Angel, and Ella. "You heard the man, kiddos." Ordinarily, I wouldn't have let Jeb take the leader role so easily, but I desperately wanted to hear what he had to say. Also, I was sort of looking forward to grilling him about the new flyboys he must have "forgotten" to tell me about.

"Uh…I'll just stick with the 'kiddos', if you don't mind." Iggy said. That liar. He just wanted to stay with Ella.

Ella smiled and took his arm to guide him up the stairs (even though he didn't technically need the help). My mom eyed the two of them critically, but not disapprovingly.

The younger kids glared at us and trudged unhappily up the stairs.

**Fang POV**

Ok, so I was pissed. Max had been unnerved to no end lately, and the last thing she needed was this little surprise visit from Jeb. I looked over at her out of concern. She looked calm and determined, looking at Jeb expectantly, which was really uncharacteristic of her. I didn't have as much against Jeb as she did, but the anger I did have for him was always heightened when he said something that hurt her.

We all sat down on the couches, Max and I opposite Jeb and Dr. Martinez, who were very quiet.

Max shifted in her chair so that her back was straight, probably just to make herself look mature, like she was doing just fine taking care of us on her own. Of course she was. She's MAX for God's sake. Jeb did show a certain amount of pride for her, but he didn't give her enough credit for everything she did. He had the infuriating tendency to treat her like a child despite everything she's been through.

I squeezed her hand in order to calm her down and her cheeks turned a faint pink in response to this show of affection in front of the two adults across from us. However, neither Dr.M nor Jeb showed any sign of surprise, almost as if they had been expecting it. She didn't need to say anything for me to know that my small action had helped to calm her even just a little.

"Ok, speak." She ordered. He sighed and looked at Dr. Martinez questioningly. She nodded at him sternly, urging him on.

Max huffed. "Some time before our expiration dates start showing up…"

Jeb held his hands up to quiet her. "Ok, ok. I'll tell you what I know."

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**So, did you like it? I hope you did so please REVIEW to tell me what you think. I would like at least 5 reviews before updating the next chapter, but it would be nice to have much more. The end is sort of a cliffhanger, but not as much as the last one. I hope it keeps you interested. Next chapter will hold more action and lots of talking. REVIEW PRETTY PLEASE =)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Greetings! I know I haven't updated in a SUPER long time, but I hope this really long chapter makes up for it. Some of the stuff I included is from ****Maximum Ride 5 but nothing too major, just a few characters but if it somehow spoils it for you if you haven't read that book yet, then don't read it. Otherwise, enjoy! This chapter has some...pretty interesting stuff in it so tell me what you think, please!**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride, not me.**

**Now on with the show!!**

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**FANG POV**

Max and I sat expectantly, waiting for Jeb to begin. I was still holding her hand, which was comforting and strange at the same time. She shifted in her seat and looked down at her lap for the briefest moment before returning to her steely gaze, which seemed to shoot through Jeb like daggers.

Jeb wasn't blind to this, and cleared his throat unsteadily before speaking. "It seems we have a bit of a situation."

Max snickered from beside me. "Oh, gee, Jeb, I never would have thunk it!"

Jeb must have gotten better at taking jibes like that from her and he blinked, seemingly unfazed before he continued, "There is something about your DNA, Max. It's special. Extraordinary, even." He was being annoyingly vague; not knowing that Max's mind must be exploding at this point knowing there was an imminent threat but not knowing what it was. This was my cue to break in.

"Oh is it maybe the _wings_? The super speed, the freakin' _voice _in her head?! Because I don't know about you but that seems pretty special to me!! Now what is this so-called threat and what can we do about it?!" I practically shouted. Or maybe I did. I don't really know because I'm not used to straining my usually monotonous voice to such high volumes. They all sat there, shocked. That was the most I've spoken in front of this many people at one time aside from the flock on rare occasions.

Max smiled a bit at me, giving my hand a squeeze similar to the one I'd given to her earlier. It faded instantly, though, her lips morphing into a grim line. If you looked up dead-serious in the dictionary you would see her picture. When she spoke her tone was professional. "Like Fang said, please tell us what is happening and what we can do about it."

Jeb looked back and forth between the two of us, his eyes seeming to say, _To think I actually raised these people for the better part of their short lives. _" Like I was saying, your DNA is very…unique. And no- I do not mean the wings, voice in your head, or any other special power you may possess."

I stole a glance at Max once again to discover that she had let her eyes wander elsewhere. It was her way of saying that she didn't like to be reminded of all of the things that made her so much different than the average teenage girl, whether she knew it or not. But the thing I so desperately wanted her to understand was that without those differences- she just wouldn't be…her. She would be just like any other girl, boring and simple. Not to pick fun at, well, THE WHOLE FEMALE POPULATION, but a girl just isn't a girl without gorgeous wings, a strong spirit, a winning smile and the ability to kick ass. Oh yeah, and her name has to be Max. Maximum Ride to be exact. Just saying.

Max seemed to get bored with looking at the wall so she urged the conversation forward. "Then what makes my DNA so 'special'?"

Jeb smiled. "Don't you realize it?" He stared at her intently as if believing that that alone could make her realize the part of the puzzle she was missing.

Max's cheeks were tinged with the slightest bit of pink. "Um…no."

"Well, there's a reason why you were chosen to save the world, Max."

Max let go of my hand (much to my disappointment. What? I'm not afraid to admit my emotions like she is so I will freely admit that I like the feeling of her hand in mine) and she crossed her arms. "No friggin DUH." Bravo, Max. I knew she couldn't keep her professional act going for much longer.

Jeb raised an eyebrow. "And what do you think that may be?"

"Because you made me that way. No wait- you _designed_ me that way. Not out of love, out of some insane desire for a girl with wings to save the world. I mean, _really_. If you wanted someone to save the world, you could've come up with something much more clever. Like a giant robot, maybe. Or something like the Incredible Hulk, with those massive muscles. But me? I'm just a girl. With wings. That's all."

No it isn't, I wanted to say but I was dying to hear Jeb's response.

"Max." He said exasperatedly, dropping his head into his hands. He looked up with a hurt expression on his face that almost made me feel sorry for him. Almost. "You know that's not the case. Believe it or not, I did do those things out of love. Your mother and I both. You may not be old enough to understand that, but I do need you to understand what I am saying now. Angel, Gazzy, Iggy, and Fang all have wings, too if you have forgotten. Not to mention special powers, just like you. So why is it that they weren't chosen to save the world but are more like accomplices or sidekicks, hmmm?"

I scowled. I am soooo much more than a sidekick! And the rest of the flock weren't just accomplices, they were equals making sure to serve justice. Holy crap, we sound like the Scooby-Doo Gang. Ok, we are little more badass than they are. Dontcha think?

I could tell that Max felt the same way by how she was looking at me apologetically. "First of all, DAD, they are much more than sidekicks! Any one of them is just as capable of saving the world as I am! The only reason they're not doing it is because there is no way that I would ever make them bear that much responsibility. If anyone is going to die trying to save the world, it's me!" I'm usually fond of Max's courage, but it was only annoying me now. Like hell I was letting her die before me.

Jeb looked at me. "No offense, Fang."

I nodded curtly. "Just continue." I said.

At least he had the decency to look a bit ashamed. "But there is something else about you, Max. When you were just an infant, we referred to it as the X-Factor. Some of it even called it the Death Factor."

"Oh my!" Dr. Martinez exclaimed. " The D-death Factor?" She put a hand to her chest. Wow. Max is so lucky to have a mother like this to actually worry about her. Apparently my mom was some druggie teen. Dr. Martinez on the other hand showed more affection than I thought possible by starting to sway in her spot, even though she was seated firmly on the couch.

Jeb put a steadying hand on her shoulder by way of comfort and I saw Max tense out of the corner of my eye. "Don't worry Valencia, it's quite the opposite actually. What it means is that should Max never be severely harmed in anyway by some physical force…she can…well…live forever."

**MAX POV**

"I can what?!'' I screeched, bolting up into a standing position.

Jeb nodded thoughtfully. "Well, it is possible for you to die if you are fatally injured but if you could somehow avoid being hurt in such a way at all costs, your body will not die on its own by way of old age."

My mind was racing. All I had to do was basically lock myself up in some nuclear-proof room for all of eternity where I was completely safe and I would never die. That is just…AWESOME!! I couldn't help but feel absolutely giddy, just filling myself with the awesomeness that was my destiny. However, this only lasted for a moment or two before the guilt sunk in. How could I possibly outlive my family? How could they go on to some other place while I stayed here in all my feathery glory?

I suddenly didn't like this sudden news and I felt sick to my stomach. We were told from a young age that my flock would be some of the only creatures that would survive if our world somehow went into World War III. But what would happen afterwards? The rest of them die from old age and I don't? Despite wanting to stand there and look tough, like hearing that I had the potential for immortality if I pleased did not put me on a crazy emotional roller coaster, I did something else on impulse.

I turned to Fang, who was eyeing me strangely. He looked at me as if I were an alien but his eyes still showed a great amount of sympathy, and I knew that he knew what I was feeling. Without thinking about our audience (our how freakishly lovey-dovey it would look) I launched at him, my arms clinging tightly around his neck. If I was somehow suffocating him, he didn't show it. He just put his arms around me and stroked my wings soothingly as I hid my red face in his shoulder.

I pulled back not much later and wiped at my face even though it was dry. My eyes were still watery, but not a single tear managed to escape. Years of training helped me control myself when I felt like crying, and I was grateful for it because it meant that I was able to maintain some dignity at this point as I sat back down on the couch.

One thing Jeb managed to remember from his years playing "daddy" to us was that I liked to move on quickly after I had some sort of an emotional outburst and forget it ever happened. So that's what he did, much to my immense relief. "Now, this X-Factor drives people crazy. No one knew how to create it for many years, except for me until I foolishly left behind some important paperwork years ago when I took you kids from The School. I honestly didn't think anyone would tamper with it, knowing the risks it could create if the blueprints were not read properly."

You see, I discovered that in order to make the X-Factor it would solely rely on the birth-mother of the specimen…er-child who was to receive the chemical enhancements necessary to making it work. The birth-mother would have to go through many medical procedures before being impregnated so that her eggs would already be slightly mutated before being fertilized."

I almost gagged. I didn't really know what he meant by all this eggs and fertilization business but it didn't sound pleasant. Give me a break, people! I don't have a single day of Sex Education to go by and I was not about to ask my parents to explain it to me. Besides, I wasn't conceived in the standard fashion exactly so I didn't need the dirty little details about how a baby was made. On the other hand, I did recognize all of this sciencey lingo thanks to my charming upbringing like, "specimen", "medical procedure" and "mutated" so I was able to follow along just fine, thank you.

Jeb went on, " Now, because all of her eggs had been mutated, it meant any of them, when fertilized, could still became a healthy child. However, this child would have what other children did not have."

"The X-Factor." I breathed.

My mom suddenly stood up, her face pale and her eyes wide.

"Valencia….?" Jeb tried to take her hand but she pushed him away forcefully.

"You talk about this 'birth mother' like she's just some random woman instead of someone sitting right here in this room!" She cried.

Jeb frowned. "Is that what you're on about? I'm sorry Valencia; it was just for the purpose of the story-

Mom held up a hand to quiet him. "That's not what I mean. You came here to tell _me_ something, didn't you?" She tapped her foot impatiently, giving Jeb a murderous look.

Jeb was obviously flustered. Ha! Take that daddy-o! Sorry. I'll stop with the ruthless jabber about the devil. Oops, I mean Jeb.

Mom began pacing behind the back of the couch, muttering things under her breath and clutching a hand to her stomach. Maybe all of this talk was reminding her of all of the medical procedures she had to endure just so I could have this "X-Factor" Jeb speaks so proudly of. Maybe it was so painful that it hurts her just to think of it. I wonder if she still has scars….

Fang took that moment to nudge me, gesturing wildly at my mom. "Say something!" He hissed just low enough so I was the only one to hear it.

"Uh…mom?" Nothing. "DR. MARTINEZ!!" I cried. She spun around instantly.

"Jeb," She began as if I hadn't spoken. "You just said that all of my eggs were mutated before Max was born, is that true?"

Jeb removed his glasses and wiped them nervously on his shirt. "Y-yes." Ha, wimp! Oh darn! That was unladylike of me. Aww shucks, who cares? This is _my_ story.

"So that would mean every child conceived out of these eggs would have the X-Factor?"

Jeb nodded once again. "I really didn't think-

"How could you not tell me?!" My mother shouted. There were some surprised murmurs from upstairs, but everyone knew better than to interrupt this little scene. "You've known all along, haven't you?"

Jeb cowered by the wall. "I honestly thought I was protecting you."

My mom wasn't done yet. "Protecting me?! For God's sake, at least now I know why you've always kept me from loving someone else! Did you kill him, Jeb?!"

At this point none of us know what is happening, but it is very fascinating to see my usually oh-so-polite mother defending herself against my oh-so-betraying father.

Jeb's voice dropped to a whisper. "Kill who? What are you talking about?"

Mom bent over him and jabbed a finger at his chest. "My husband. Ella's father. Did you kill him and make it look like an accident?"

Jeb's eyes dropped to the ground. Then, he stood up and took my mom's hands gently. "Of course not. I did know of the risks of having another baby and I'll admit that I did anything to prevent it from happening. But I am not a murderer by any terms."

I stood up, my hands clenched in fists at my sides. "Whoa there, buddy! Can someone fill us in?"

Jeb and my mom returned to their seats hesitantly and Jeb started to explain, " I-we weren't expecting for your mother to have another child. We thought that after you came along she would be infertile due to the massive stress put on her body. Like I said, everyone one of her eggs had been mutated; meaning any of those children could, and would be, born with the X-Factor. I honestly had no clue that she was planning on having another child."

"Wait!" I said. Everything was starting to click into place.

"That would mean…" I couldn't even say it out loud. It was just too…shocking.

Jeb sighed. "Yes, Max. That would mean that Ella, too, has the X-Factor. While she does not have wings or special abilities, she can live forever should she stay safe and protected."

Fang and I turned to each other, both knowing what this could mean. The School must have found out that I had a sister from my spending so much time here in Arizona. They knew about Ella and they wanted to take her. Oh crap! This was all my fault! If only I'd just stayed away.

Fang, as if knowing my thoughts, put a strong arm around me and whispered in my ear, "This isn't your fault, Max."

His words only calmed me a little, but I was still shaking out of fear and anger. Ella didn't know about this strange power she possessed, considering her own mother had just found out a few minutes ago. Jeb was looking guilty and ashamed for having kept this information for so long.

My mom was the one to break the silence. "Is Ella in any immediate danger?" Her voice was shaky.

"I don't know. All I know is that a man named has made it very clear that he has big plans in store for her." Jeb answered.

"?" I asked.

Before he could answer, our ears were met with a great rumbling noise from upstairs. Fang and I took a fighting stance while my mom and Jeb stared anxiously at the door.

"Let's go." I told Fang, and we bolted up the stairs. As soon as we got there we noticed the window in the living room was smashed and bits of glass were strewn across the pale blue carpet.

There were these human-looking robots standing all around the room with their guns pointed directly at us. I had to admit that the School had done well this time with the creepiness level. I couldn't help but feel weirded out by their appearance.

_M-Geeks_,

Angel's voice drifted into my mind.

_What, honey?_

I asked while trying to make my face look unafraid as I glanced at our attackers surrounding us from all sides in the small room.

_I call them M-Geeks,_

She explained.

I almost laughed. It was the perfect name for these things! They didn't speak, but continued to wave their guns at us threateningly, but didn't make any moves to actually shoot us. They want something, I concluded. Something more than just killing us or attacking us; the guns were only there to make a point.

I put my hands on my hips. "Can I help you?"

One of the M-Geeks stepped forward, lowering its gun. "We have come for Special Unit Number Two." It droned in a lifeless tone.

I rolled my eyes. "You mean Ella?"

It blinked. "Yes. The one who shares your blood."

I stepped closer to it, despite the warnings Fang heeded through his eyes. "Oh well, I'm going to have to give that a big fat NO."

They all stepped closer, raising their guns even higher if that were possible. I kept my ground. "Is that a problem?" I asked sweetly, blinking my eyes in exaggerated motions.

At this point, I heard a noise from the kitchen. That must be where my flock was hiding. The M-Geeks noticed it as well and took off in that direction.

Despite the fact that we were indoors, Fang and I spread our wings and rushed to beat them there. As we flapped to pick up speed, the tips of our feathers grazed the ceiling lightly. As I passed the basement door, I pushed a heavy armchair in front of it to make sure my mom didn't risk anything by coming up here to help us.

Most of the M-Geeks were behind us, but the one who had spoken to me and two others were already in the kitchen. I glanced around them, where I saw everyone huddled around Ella protectively. Awww. My little warriors.

Fang was blocking the entrance in an attempt to make sure no one else came through. He was fighting off the growing crowd and I winced as he caught a blow to his shoulder. He was strong through, moving his limbs in an almost blinding speed as he fought off several at once. How many were there? At least twenty. I couldn't let him do it himself.

I moved to help him, hoping the rest of the flock could fend off the three others. We fought together mercilessly, earning a few bruises and scratches but nothing too serious. Why weren't they using their guns? Maybe they were just for show after all, I thought wildly as I attacked one straight in the face with a swift roundhouse kick.

I turned around to check how the rest were doing. I only meant to tear my eyes away from my fight for a second, but in that moment one of the M-Geeks raised his gun and brought it down over my head hard enough that I felt myself drop to the ground as everything slipped away…

I vaguely heard Fang's angered cry as he noticed what had just happened but the pain in my head was too much to take so I let myself drift away as I lay sprawled on the hard tiled floor.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I blinked my eyes, trying to remember where I was. As soon as I remembered the fight and all of the day's events I bolted up, hitting my head on something hard above me.

I groaned. "Ow!" I rubbed the top of my head, looking angrily at the wooden panels of the small bunk bed above me. I was in the guest room that Gazzy and Iggy shared, lying on the lower bunk with a thin blue blanket covering me.

"Max?" A small voice asked me.

I turned to find Angel kneeling by the bed. She had a band-aid on one of her cheeks and her blonde curls were tangled.

"Hey, sweetie. How are you doing?" I asked as I took her hand in mine.

"I'm okay." She answered quietly, her blue eyes tearing up.

"What's wrong? Where is everybody? Where's Fang?" I spit out the questions urgently, my panic rising by the moment.

"Gazzy and Iggy are downstairs and Nudge is with Dr. M and Jeb. Fang's sleeping right above you up there." She pointed to the top bunk where a faint snoring could be heard. I breathed a sigh of relief. But there was still someone missing…

"Angel…where is Ella?" I was embarrassed at how my voice almost broke on her name and I cleared my throat uncomfortably.

"Max, we did everything we could! There were only three of them, but they were strong! I tried to read their minds but nothing happened!" Tears were running down her cheeks now.

"Angel, what happened?" I asked quietly, afraid to hear the answer.

"Well, we all turned around as soon as we heard you hit the floor. We were worried about you and we tried to help Fang fight the rest off but we weren't paying enough attention."

My heart was hammering in my chest. I felt guilty and ashamed that I had even asked about Fang before considering the safety of my own sister. I had left her to help out my boy- my best friend when she needed me.

I didn't need to hear Angel's next words to know what had happened. "Max," Angel began, "They took her."

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**So what didya think, huh? haha. REVIEW, please! It's the only thing that keeps me going!!**


	8. Chapter 8

**_I got lots of nice reviews last time, so thank you to everyone who bothered to do that for me! I was soooo happy =)_**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any of the amazing characters created by James Patterson**

**And.....on with the show!!!**

* * *

I didn't waste time in rounding everyone up in the living room as soon as I could. My mom's eyes were red from crying and Jeb was trying (and failing) to comfort her. The flock look battered and tired, but by the way they sat, tense and stiff, showed that they were ready to continue fighting for Ella's sake. Iggy's hands were clenched in fists so tight that his knuckles were white. He looked angrier than I had ever seen him. As for Total, he looked on adoringly as Akila sat in her plush dog bed by the fire, eating and ripping up a small stack of papers.

"Total, isn't that the poetry you wrote for Akila?" I asked, gesturing suspiciously at the slobbery remains lying by her snout.

"Yes." He sighed dreamily. "As long as she's enjoying it, I'm happy."

I shook my head. Dogs these days!

I clapped my hands to get everyone's attention. "I'm going after them. No questions asked. They've already done enough damage to the rest of us and I will be damned if they do the same to Ella!"

"Max! Language!" My mother scolded through her tears.

Fang made a small grunting noise that counted as a chuckle by his terms. Yes, we all know how Fang cusses like a sailor in his mind and probably found my rare outburst amusing. "I agree with Max." He said, rising to stand beside me. "They might take pity on Ella because she's smaller and more fragile than we are but who knows what those psychos will do if we don't rescue her as soon as we can!"

I couldn't help it. I smiled. He was getting louder and louder everyday, breaking out of the Fang-shell he'd been trapped in all these years. Though I noted with disgust how Jeb flinched slightly at the way Fang called the Whitecoats "psychos". It only made me distrust him even further.

Before I continued I glanced at the clock on the mantle. It was 11:28. It had almost been an hour and a half since we'd been attacked. I sighed. So many mistakes had been made tonight.

For one, we had let down our guard after our false alarm with Jeb. Iggy had confided me that while Fang and I had been downstairs "chatting" with my mom and Jeb, he had convinced Ella to show him where the control panels that controlled the alarms were. I wonder how he did that? NOT (he went flirt-mode on her). Shudder. Anyways, as it turned out, the small box that contained the many switches and buttons which controlled the house's defense system was locked. Thinking quickly (and maniacally) those sweet little kiddos (namely Gazzy, Angel, Ella and Iggy) managed to convince Nudge to use her powers to unlock it. Which is exactly what they did. That was one reason why tonight had gone wrong. I didn't yell at them for it, though. As they sat there sprawled across chairs and couches in the living room they were just bleeding guilt. I just didn't have the heart to rub it in.

Yet another reason why tonight had gone wrong was the fact that we didn't use all of our resources. Perhaps you remember what my mom keeps in her basement, hmmm? GUNS. Yes, that's right. She had a truckload of guns just waiting for us if we needed them. By blocking the basement door, I had put my family in more danger. While keeping my mom _**in**_, I had kept the guns _**out**_ of our way.

The last reason why tonight had gone so, sooooooo, wrong: ELLA IS GONE!!! I think that's enough reason for me to rant and rage!

Needless to say, my mom didn't need much, if any- convincing to let us plan our revenge and fly to wherever we needed to go to get her back. Iggy wanted to be head of this mission, and held this air of authority I had never seen in him before. He almost beat out my mom in the Ella-loving compartment and for once we didn't tease him about it. That doesn't mean he didn't blush though. He did plenty of that, trust me.

Within twenty-five minutes, we were out the door and in the air. We didn't want to waste anymore time, considering she'd already been there for about two hours. Coming from experience, being there for even a minute was enough to scar you for life. My stomach twisted in knots at the thought of what experiments she might be going through. There was a chance that they had only kidnapped her to lure us to their headquarters, but it was slim. All they wanted was her. As a normal human being with the X-Factor she was priceless. We still hadn't told the others about the special ability both Ella and I shared. Except for Angel. She had read our minds, but it confused her so she didn't ask any questions.

"Wait!" Iggy suddenly called.

"What?" I grunted out, irritated. We had just started picking up some speed!

His sightless blue eyes bore hard into mine. How he even knew where my eyes were is beyond me! It must have been the fact that we were completely surrounded by white clouds. "We don't even know where they took her! How are we supposed to find her if we don't know where we're going? You're supposed to be the leader Max, but you have no clue what you're doing!" He put in his head in his hands in his frustration.

Fang flew over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey man, it's gonna be okay. We'll find her." He looked over at me and smiled, and I could've sworn that the sun broke through the clouds at that moment.

"What about the clouds?" Gazzy asked, looking up at me.

"Huh?" I said dumbly.

"You just said something about Fang smiling and the clouds and…??" He trailed off, confused.

I looked to Angel for help.

_You just said that last part out loud,_

She informed me. Well, crap! I definitely didn't mean to do that. I looked over my shoulder to see Iggy and Fang holding their stomach mid-air from laughing so hard. Glad to see that Iggy got over his depression by having a laugh at my expense!

Fang suddenly swooped down closer to me. He put a hand on my cheek and whispered in my ear, "You're blushing." With that, he took off following the rest of the flock as they headed for a nearby clearing to land in.

I scowled as my blush deepened and I raised my hand to the spot where Fang had put his hand. Just then, a familiar voice decided to drop by for a visit.

_Max, focus on the task!_

_Well I would if you would just tell me-_

_That was my intention._

It interrupted me. That was strange. Not to mention rude! The voice didn't usually interrupt me like that.

_Ok, continue please Oh Great Voice._

I said, hoping it would tell me how to get Ella back.

_She's in Texas. In a building being run by a man named Mr.C in Dallas. As a warning, the whitecoats there are particularly hostile, so be cautious. Also, it would do you well to look for D.P._

With that, the Voice stopped speaking and wouldn't answer any more questions no matter how many times I tried to get it to come back.

I landed on the ground next to my flock fairly gracefully and told them everything I'd learned in the past few minutes.

"So she's in Texas?" Iggy repeated. "Then let's go!" He eagerly spread his wings and headed into the clouds above. We followed him east for a few minutes when Nudge decided to bring up another part of the Voice's message that didn't seem to make sense to any of us.

"D.P?" She asked, twirling a dark ringlet of hair around her finger and chewing loudly on some pink gum. Well that's Nudge for ya!

I shrugged. "That's what the Voice said."

"Oooh! Do you think it meant like Dr. Pepper? Ya know? D.P like Dr. and Pepper!" She grinned, convincing herself that the Voice wanted us to arrive at the scene armed with only cans of fizzy Dr. Pepper to protect us.

We all looked at each other, shaking our heads.

"Well, I don't know what it meant by that exactly, but I'm sure we'll figure it out when we get there." Well at least I _hoped _we would!

**************

Not much later (thanks to our awesome flying abilities) we arrived in Dallas, Texas. Unfortunately, we just couldn't go any longer without catching a few Z's so we found a nice, though not very clean place to rest up until morning. None of us slept well due to the fact that we kept thinking about whether Ella was okay or not and feeling guilty that we were sleeping instead of rescuing her. But honestly, if we had kept going we wouldn't have made it. So, in the morning after a fitful night on the dirty ground, we began our hunt for this unnamed building supposedly run by a "Mr.C" **(A/N to those of you who have read MR5 you will know who Mr.C is. I just didn't add his actual name in here because it didn't show up in my last chapter for some unknown mystical reason)**. We weren't having much luck so we resorted to asking people on the street. Most of the adults just looked at us strangely, thinking we were a bunch of misfits and didn't even bother answering us. I didn't blame them. We were a bit frantic and didn't mind randomly questioning people in alleys, coffee shops and street corners, with a less than mature attitude in our hurry. So for that reason, we decided to ask a few kids instead. They were less suspicious.

I approached a little boy wearing a blue hat and green sneakers at a park. His mom was sitting on a bench gossiping with one of the other ladies while this little boy ran freely around. Sheesh! Great parenting, Lady! Even I, a mere teenager, take care of my kids better than that.

_Yeah, you're a good mommy,_

Angel told me sweetly. I smiled at her from where she sat on one of the swings nearby. I didn't mind that she called me mommy because I sometimes found myself calling her my "daughter" in my head.

Ok, back to my task!

"Hey there, kid." I said to the little boy calmly, hoping not to scare him off.

He looked up me with green eyes and a trail of mud smeared across his cheek. "Hi".

"Well, um, I was wondering if you've heard of a man named Dr.C??"

He blinked at me and started ripping pieces of grass out of the ground and dropping the handful of grass blades into his lap. "Yep." He popped the "p" loudly and continued his destruction of the shrubbery.

"Where? Where have you heard of him?" I tried to keep my voice normal but it was obvious how desperate I was.

"The place with the pretty pictures." He explained, and suddenly dashed off after his friend.

Hmmm…what could that mean? A museum? Or maybe a gallery?

I rounded everybody up and we headed to a nearby diner to borrow a phonebook. While everyone else ate like ravenous pigs, one of the waitresses was nice enough to let me sit on a stool by the cash register to use the phone. I flipped through pages upon pages in the borrowed phonebook looking up different museums and galleries until I finally found the right one. It said: _**Mr.C's Art Studio**_. Aha! So it was here after all. I quickly jotted down the address and joined the others at the booth they were occupying.

"An art studio?" Iggy asked through a mouthful of toast.

"Yeah." I muttered. "Let's go!"

*********

We followed the directions before arriving at a humongous brown building in the middle of nowhere by a dusty road.

"Lovely." I commented, noting the faded wooden sign in the front and the old, rusty door at the entrance.

Before I even had to say anything, Iggy was marching up to the door and knocking loudly. "Open up!" He kept repeating.

We stood behind him, alert and ready for anything. Soon enough, the big doors opened to reveal a man with dark hair and green eyes. He wore a lab-coat looking thing, which was pretty mysterious. But this white coat was splattered here and there with different colors and he wore converse on his feet so I didn't want to jump to conclusions. He looked confused to see us standing there, but let us in hurriedly.

As soon as we entered the room, we were in awe. Every single wall was covered floor to ceiling with artwork. They were bright and creative and…hypnotizing. I was surprised to find that most of the paintings were unusual, despite their beauty. Some were of dragons, others of fairies, and quite a few were of mermaids. There was one particular drawing that caught my attention. It was of a giraffe with wings. I guess what made me notice it was the wings, like an engineered avian giraffe instead of an avian human, like me.

"Have you come for the paintings? The tour starts at two 'o clock." He said brightly, taking in our ragged appearance with interest rather than disgust.

"Ummm…no actually." I answered.

"Max, look!" Fang called from across the room. He stood before one of the mermaid paintings, pointing at it.

"What is it?" I walked over to where he stood and stared at the spot where he was pointing, right at the corner. The signature at the bottom was a simple abbreviation: D.P. My eyes widened. The voice said that D.P. would be of some help to us, so now that we knew that D.P. was a person (and not a soda pop), we just needed to find him.

I turned around to the unknown guy again, who was standing by an easel whisking a paintbrush back and forth it enthusiastically.

"Excuse me? We were wondering if you knew where to find D.P. You know, the person whose name is at the bottom of these paintings?"

The guy grinned goofily at us and stopped his painting. He gestured proudly to his nametag. "That's me. My name is Dominic Perea and I think you have come here with something other than artwork on your mind. And I think I can help you."

* * *

**How was it?? I know it was shorter than other chapters, and not much happened, but LOTS of stuff will happen in the next chapter! Plus, Dominic will be a major savior for the flock, so watch out for him in my next update :)**

_Review!_ Review! **Review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**As an apology for not updating in a while I have brought you an EXTRA LONG chapter! This is one of my biggest chapters yet, and I really hope you like it! I am dedicating this chapter to my friend, Dominic, who inspired me to write the words in which you are about to read =)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride because JP owns it!! However, Dominic is the property of ME. All mine. Mwahahaha!**

**Now on with the show!**

* * *

As usual, I needed to size up the situation before acting. "And how are you going to do that, exactly?" I placed my hands on my hips.

Dominic's smile didn't falter for a second. "Well, come on into my lair and I will show you."

Ok, so that was a little strange. He gestured to a door on the far wall.

Just to be cautious, I gave the door a thorough inspection. It appeared to be made out of metal and very thick. If we needed to escape for any reason, we would need Nudge's powers to unlock it. It wouldn't be the fastest mode of escaping, but it would have to do.

I walked over to Iggy and tapped the back of his hand twice "Just be on alert, okay?"

He nodded and everyone followed Dominic to the door. He twisted the big lock and the door swung open, revealing a long, white hallway. This did not look pretty. We had gone from that zany art studio to _this_ in just a second. Everything was so white and…ugh…the familiar antiseptic smell was making me nauseous. I looked behind me to check on the rest of the group. They all had similar looks of disgust on their faces as our heels clicked on the spotless white tile.

When we got to the end, Dominic suddenly made a left turn and knocked on a door of one of the rooms. The doors weren't labeled so I had no clue what we were in for.

"Just play along." He said. He winked at us just as a horde of whitecoats burst through the door and started grabbing us by the arms.

We started kicking and flailing, doing anything to get out of their reach. But they had needles, and big ones. Probably filled with something to knock us out. "Guys! Guys, stop!" I suddenly yelled.

My flock stood still and looked at me in confusion. The whitecoats stopped what they were doing, too, holding their giant needles threateningly near to us.

_Angel, can you tell everyone that we need to stay calm? We're not here to escape; we're here to get Ella. Dominic said to play along, so let's do it. Maybe these whitecoats can take us to her, _

I quickly relayed to Angel, and watched as looks of understanding came over everyone's faces as she passed the message on through their minds.

"Ok, ok!" I said to the scientists as I backed up slowly. "Take us where you need to, but there's no reason to put us to sleep so I would suggest you put those big ugly things away." I warned. "And I don't mean your stupid little needles." I added for effect.

They lowered the needles down carefully. "Come with us." One of them said. He was pretty tall, with lots of freckles and messy brown hair. However, he was also skinny as a beanpole, so he wouldn't be too hard to take down if need be. He and his cohorts led us into the next room.

As soon as I we stepped inside, I knew it was a mistake. There were about a dozen M-Geeks lining the walls and six cots. That meant one cot and two robots for each of us.

***********

**Narrator's POV**

Ella sat on the metal bench in her small holding room, clutching her head in her hands. Whatever they had used to sedate her was having some pretty nasty aftereffects.

She slowly opened her eyes against the bright light and looked towards the door of the room. There was a small glass window that showed her everything that was going on outside. From where she was sitting, it was hard to tell. With a groan, she lifted herself with shaky legs and used a hand to get a grip on the cold wall. She slowly and carefully walked to the window and pressed her face against it.

There were two guards on either side of the door. A "whitecoat", as Max called them, was talking animatedly, almost excitedly to them, as they nodded in agreement. When they noticed her they glared, but didn't try to shoo her away.

"Where is Max?" She whispered to herself. Max could never let her just rot away in this cell! She had to be coming for her soon, she told herself.

Her vision was starting to get blurry so she practically crawled on her hands and knees back to the metal bench. She heard footsteps leading away from the door, meaning the two guards and the whitecoat must have left. That didn't mean much, considering the door was most definitely locked.

She sighed, and crawled up in a ball, trying to escape the pain. Her body was feeling heavier and heavier every second. The medicine must be flowing through her bloodstream at an even faster rate now. She sighed heavily. Just earlier she had been telling Max how jealous she was of her life style. How could anyone like living like this! Being treated like an animal was not her idea of fun. Was this how Max felt? Like her wings made her feel less human and less in control of herself? No doubt, they were freakin awesome, but was there even a reason to feel jealous in the first place? Too many questions that may never be answered if she didn't get out of here…

She nearly jumped when she heard a scratching noise on the floor. With an almost mighty heave, she was facing the door again rather than the wall. She squinted her eyes to make out the object that was being pushed underneath it on the shiny white tile. It looked like a note. Her eyes darted to the window above, and a flash of black hair came and went in the blink of an eye.

She bent to pick up the small piece of paper. It was written on some sort of handmade mermaid stationery, and the paint in which the words were written was still drying. She picked it up cautiously and stumbled back to the bench. In big, dripping, letters it read:

_Ella! Your sister and friends have come to save you! Did you think they would leave you here?! Hellz no!! So anyways, I am going to help by BLASTING all of these bad guys with my super powers!_

_-Dominic_

Just as she finished reading it, she was surprised by an M-Geek who burst into the room followed by two scientists.

"Special Unit Number Two." The robot droned. "We have come for you."

One of the whitecoats approached her, and instantly stuck her with a large needle. As she felt her eyelids grow heavier and heavier she had one thought in her mind… _Please help me, Dominic, whoever you are. And Max, don't let them hurt me…_

*************

**Max POV**

I looked around frantically, trying to see an escape route, but as far as I could tell we were completely trapped. I shot a desperate look at Fang and he looked at me apologetically. Almost in a defeated way.

I reminded myself of the plan: Play along. I just hope this didn't involve any of us getting hurt.

Angel started gesturing to the others to lie on the cots instead of fighting back, and they did. The anger on their faces was still present, though.

The skinny whitecoat laughed heartily. "Look! They are behaving! Down without a fight." He grinned at his accomplices.

As I grudgingly lay my head down on the hard surface of the rolling cot I snarled (in a VERY unladylike fashion) at him. "Don't think this will be happening often." I gritted out through my teeth as they strapped us down and rolled us down the hallway. They didn't take the time to be gentle by any means. My wrists were starting to bruise from the heavy latches around them and my stomach lurched as we jerkily turned corners and violently wheeled down long hallways.

At last, they brought us to another small room and deposited us nicely on some big comfy beds. NOT! No, actually they just dumped us like garbage bags on the floor.

Then they slammed the door behind us and left us to one big, empty room.

"Well…at least they didn't leave us any birdseed this time." Gazzy said to break the silence.

We all laughed half-heartedly. We still had our eyes on the prize: finding Ella and kicking some butt.

Iggy dragged himself over to a corner and sighed loudly. "I hope she's okay." He announced to no one in particular. We all nodded in agreement even though we knew he couldn't see us. But he knew how we felt about this situation without needing to see the looks on our faces.

"Max," Angel suddenly whispered, " Someone is coming. But their thoughts sound like they want to help us."

"It's probably _Dominic_…" Fang muttered bitterly from his corner.

What was that about? I looked to Angel for help but she just shrugged.

I looked over to where he was sitting but all I saw was a grey wall. "Fang, stop using your invisibility! It's getting creepy."

He reappeared slowly, the frown on his face the last and most noticeable thing to fade back into existence. " I can do whatever the hell I want, Max."

Ouch. That stung. What's his deal?

"O-okay." There he goes again, making me stutter! I think he's the only person in the world who can do that.

Before we could finish the conversation, the door swung open, proving Fang right. It _was_ Dominic.

"Howdy there!" He exclaimed as he stepped into the room.

We all looked at each other with similar looks of "Who let the loony in?" He seemed like a really nice guy, but it was hard to tell whether he was putting on an act.

_He's not._

The Voice suddenly rang in my head. Well, folks! There's your answer, straight from the crazy voice in my head. I waited but the Voice didn't say anything else as usual.

Fang stood up to stand next to me in a strange, guarded sort of way. However, Dominic's huge smile didn't falter a bit. Fang and I both looked at him curiously as a way of asking what he wanted.

"Oh-right! I'm such a silly hamster! I forgot why I came in here!" He chuckled.

I cocked my hip and raised an eyebrow. "Well we were sort of hoping you came in here to rescue us." I admitted.

Dominic slapped his forehead jokingly. "True, true! You're on the right track!"

"Look man, could you stop beating around the bush and playing these little mind games. We need to find Max's sister and get out of here, CAN YOU HELP US DO THAT?" Fang countered, the frown on his face returning and his voice rising dangerously.

There was a mischievous glint in Dominic's eyes as he replied. "Oh, yes, yes I can." He suddenly grabbed my hand and an uncomfortable look passed between Fang and I.

"I've told everyone that I will be needing the two of you for experiments, so away we go!" He grabbed Fang's arm and dragged us both out into the hallway.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I ripped myself from his grasp and Fang did the same. "What about the rest of my flock?"

Dominic rolled his eyes teasingly. "They'll be perfectly fine! I've taken care of everything. Come on, now!" He led the way down another hallway and we followed him curiously.

"In here, please." He instructed, leading us to yet another small room.

"So this is your 'lair'?" Fang scoffed, inspecting the room full of art supplies and tables.

But once again, Dominic seemed to be completely relaxed. "This is where I do all of my art. Mr. C wants to keep up with the pretenses that this place is an art studio, so I go along with it."

I couldn't help my curiosity. "But why? Why do you help him if you know he's a monster who likes torturing the innocent? You seem like a nice guy, I don't understand."

He looked as if he were contemplating whether to tell us or not. After what seemed like hours, he sat down at one of the tables and gestured for us to do the same.

His face suddenly lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. "Do you guys wanna hear a story?" He asked excitedly.

Fang and I looked at each other with our eyebrows raised. "Uh…why not?" _We're only trying to save my sister here; it's not story time!_ I thought. Yet somehow, I felt like this "story" he wanted to tell us might give us some valuable information.

Dominic took a deep, dramatic breath. "Well it's like this…"

_** Flashback**_

_10 Years Earlier_

_A tall, dark haired scientist walked into the lab to check on the progress of his latest experiment. "Dominic, how's the vile coming along?" He asked._

_Dominic looked up from his work and smiled at him. "Almost done dad! I really think I'm getting the hang of this science stuff." He held up the vile proudly. It contained the special red liquid that would be injected into the experiment they called "Iggy" later that day. _

_His father clapped him on the back. "Good going, son! But you do know that being a scientist isn't your destiny? You can't live here forever." _

_"But, why not?" Dominic said in surprise. "Everyone else gets to stay! Why not me?"_

_"Well…the people who live here are one of two things: a scientist, or an experiment. Someone of value. Your test results weren't good enough to make you a potential scientist here at Mr. C's laboratory, and you don't exactly have any…erm…special abilities worth studying. Which is why I think you should pursue an art career! Besides, you're only fifteen, no need to worry about this now."_

_Dominic was thoughtful for a moment. "Hmmm...I do like art. But I wouldn't want to leave you, Dad! This place is my home, and I know I can figure out a way to belong here!"_

_He then looked mischievously at the vile of red liquid waiting to be injected into the little 4-year-old avian human experiment named Iggy, labeled FIRE. _

_Three Hours Later_

_"The experiment is here and he's been sedated. Is the needle ready?"_

_Dominic listened from behind a door as the scientists rolled a little sleeping boy into the room with his arms, legs, and wings strapped down securely. Just as one of them poised the needle right above the little boy's chest he decided it was Go-time. _

_He pulled the emergency alarm, giving the scientists a warning that the experiments had been let out of their cages. It had never been used before, so it was sure to make a lot of chaos. And it did. Just as he'd expected, everyone came running into the halls, yelling frantically and heading to where the experiments were held. _

_As the main lab room emptied out, he snuck in to stand by Iggy's side. The needle was lying on the floor, just begging for him to pick it up. But first, he started to unlatch all of Iggy's restraints, just as he'd planned. Just as his eyes started to flutter open and as Dominic heard the confused murmurs of scientists walking back down the hall, he grabbed the needle and jammed it right into his own arm, letting out a cry of pain. He could already feel it working its magic. _

_"What? What is it?!!" His dad asked, running into the lab._

_"The experiment woke up!! I was trying to hold it down when it just grabbed the needle and stabbed me with it!" He lied, holding up his arms, which were slowly turning red and rising several degrees in temperature by the second. _

_His father grabbed him, wincing slightly as Dominic's hot skin slightly burned his own. "My dear boy!" He cried. _

_But secretly, Dominic was smiling. Now he truly belonged here. He wouldn't have to leave and he would hold this power forever._

_**End Flashback**_

_ Present Day_

**Max POV**

As he finished his tale I needed to set some things straight. "So…wait! You've been here all this time? Raised by evil scientists?"

Dominic looked a bit amused (shocker). "They're not all evil! Just Mr. C. He's got this crazy brainwashing control over everyone. Except me."

"So you got what you wanted, then? How exactly did that work?"

He sat back in his chair with another huge smile. "Well, after they discovered that the Fire Serum actually worked on me, they figured they couldn't let me go. They feared that someone would discover my secret and reveal all of Mr. C's plans. So I've lived here ever since. I apparently wasn't 'smart' (or crazy) enough to be one of the scientists, and since I was the son of one of them, they couldn't exactly treat me as one of the experiments. That's where the art thing comes in. I've always had a natural talent for art, so now I help out the place by fooling the locals into believing that this building is really just an art studio."

Hmmm…a good plan, but very evil. "And what did this Fire Serum do to you, exactly?" I asked hesitantly, half expecting him to show us something dangerous.

"Oh, right! Watch my skillz!" He held up his hands and started pointing at different candles around the room. They lighted up instantaneously, brightening the room further. "As you can see…I can control fire!"

I looked at him in awe. That was a pretty awesome ability to have! It could really help us out, too. If he actually decides to help us, that is. I caught Fang looking at me, so I smiled. But he didn't return it.

"So…" Fang began, looking up threateningly through his thick black bangs. "You _stole_ Iggy's power?"

"Fang!" I warned.

"No, no, it's alright Max. Fang's right. I did sort of steal his power." Dominic admitted.

Fang sat back in his chair angrily with his arms crossed.

"Let's me explain first! You see, I had spent weeks, months even, helping my dad create that serum. It was my idea, in fact! Iggy always did have a fascination with fire…even at that age…but I needed it so I could stay! This place is my home!"

I nodded my head. "Sounds understandable. I'm sure Iggy wouldn't be mad. I mean, we all have enough powers as it is. Fang?" I asked hopefully, looking over at my unhappy boyfrie- I mean best friend.

He shrugged. "Whatever." Back to his one worded replies, I see. He kept looking between Dominic and I suspiciously.

Wait! I think I know why he's been so rude towards Dominic. Is he maybe…jealous? Ha! I almost laughed but I was able to contain myself. He thinks I like Dominic! And Dominic is a whole decade older than I am! Surely he couldn't think that I would like anyone else but him. Of course I wouldn't admit that, but it was true.

As a little experiment, I did something totally out of character for me. I reached over, and placed my hand on top of Dominic's where it lay on the table. "Don't worry, Dominic. Fang is just protective over his brothers, don't let him put you down for a decision you made so many years ago." I told him sweetly, even batting my eyelashes for effect. Knowing me, I probably looked like I had something in my eye, but it worked anyway. I could see Fang tense and start to glare.

Dominic nervously pulled his hand away, looking at me strangely. "Ok…"

With that, Fang just stormed off. I looked at Dominic apologetically, but he just encouraged me to "Go find my little love bug" as he put it.

I followed Fang into the (thankfully) empty hallway and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He turned around fiercely, his scowl matching mine perfectly.

"And just where do you think you're going?!" I asked him. I can't believe he would risk our safety like this by thinking he could just go wandering around this place just because he let his anger get the better of him! Well I did kind of provoke him…but still!

He forcefully removed my hand from his shoulder and just shrugged.

"And what's your deal anyway?!"

He looked up at me so intensely that I felt like I was being hypnotized by his deep, dark eyes. "What's my _deal_? WHAT DO YOU THINK MY DEAL IS?"

I started backing away, surprised by his sudden outburst. "Shhh! Keep your voice down! We don't need an oncoming attack from those M-Geeks when you're being so melodramatic!" I was yelling, too, but quietly enough as to not bring any attention to us.

Suddenly I was being pushed back into a wall. Fang's hands were on either side of my head and he was breathing heavily. Normally I would have laughed at how much he resembled an angry bull, but the moment was too intense to do anything but stare.

"You know how much I care about you Max! I always have, but you just push me away! Then you have to go and act all flirty with Dominic right in front of me!" His voice was hoarse.

I laughed bitterly. "Flirting with him? Fang, if you think that's flirting then you seriously need a reality check. I hardly even know _how _to flirt!" I scoffed.

"But…the way you were looking at him. And you touched his hand! You know how I feel about you, yet you continue to play these little games!" He argued.

I looked down out of shame. "I know. And I shouldn't have done that. But he's 25! Do you actually think I would make a move on him? Of course not!" I tried to show him with my eyes how sincere I was.

I suddenly felt my chin being lifted up gently until I was looking him straight in the eye again. "Prove it." He said.

He closed the short distance between us and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss was different than our past encounters….it was more…determined. This time he didn't take it too far, probably in fear that I would push him away. But I didn't. I leaned into the kiss more, moving my lips against his in a way that I hope showed that I cared about him, too. He pulled away only seconds later. It was short and sweet.

"Believe me yet?" I asked as I rested my forehead against his.

He pulled away and smiled at me softly. "Hmmm…not yet. I think I need more proof." He said teasingly as he leaned in again. But as usual, someone just didn't want to let us have our happy moment.

"WHAT IS SPECIAL UNIT NUMBER ONE DOING OUT OF CONFINEMENT?"

We both broke apart instantly and glared at the whitecoats approaching us from all sides. I looked up, noticing that ceiling was higher than I'd thought, just enough space for us to…

"Fang! U and A! Now! Let's go get the kids!" I ordered, but he stayed glued to his spot.

"We can't, Max! What about your sister!" He pointed out.

"We'll get her, we just gotta get everyone else and then it's war!" With that, we both spread our wings and flew above the whitecoat's heads, despite their futile attempts to get us down. I looked behind me and saw Dominic already emerging from his room, trying to keep everything under control. I threw him a grateful look before turning a corner to where I knew they were keeping my flock.

The door was only locked from the inside, so we hurried in and warned the others. Fang stayed at the doorway to hold it open so it wouldn't lock on us. However, we were greeted by a surprising sight. Everyone was sitting together on the far wall. Iggy was the furthest away, holding something in his arms. It looked like something was bundled up in a blanket. As soon as I saw a lock of dark hair, I knew exactly who it was. Ella.

"You got Ella!" I cried, rushing over to her where she lay comfortably in Iggy's protective arms.

Angel came over and leaned against me. "Yep! While you guys were gone." She suddenly frowned. "But there's something wrong with her. She won't let us remove the blanket and she's really pale."

I took a closer look at the end of the blanket where Ella's face was barely poking out. She was pale just like Angel said and she kept groaning.

"We really need to get her out of here! Iggy, get a good hold on her and head on down the hallway to the right! It's faster to fly. Fang and Angel follow them. Gazzy, come with me and bring some bombs. We're going to try to fight off as many of these freaks as we can!" I directed.

As the rest of the flock tried to find the exit, the Gasman and I took an alternative route back to Dominic's "lair".

"Gazzy, do you have the bombs ready?"

"Uh…Max?" Gazzy asked nervously.

"Yeah?"

"I don't have any." He admitted. "But I can still help! I'm a good fighter!"

"Gazzy! The one time I don't scold you for your bombs, and you don't have any!" I cried. "Well, looks like we're going to have to do this the painful way."

As we got closer, dozens of M-Geeks and whitecoats started storming down the hall, chasing Dominic. We swooped down protectively in front of him.

"Wait! It's okay, Max, I got this!" He called. Oh, right. The fire!

In one, dramatic motion, Dominic raised his hands above his heads and the whitecoats gasped.

"You wouldn't dare!" One of them called out.

"Mr. C would never forgive you!" Another one said.

Dominic just grinned at them, and I could see the power slowly rising in him, waiting to be released. Small flames were beginning to flicker from his fingertips.

He looked as if he'd never been able to fully use his powers, like he'd been waiting all his life for this moment. "Do it!" I encouraged.

Suddenly, a massive tornado of fire came swirling from his hands. He sent it flying towards a group of M-Geeks who instantly withered away on the spot, leaving a smoking pile of ashes in their place.

He crossed his arms defiantly. "Never doubt me." He said simply. Then he turned around and winked at me, and Gazzy and I gave him the thumbs up.

Whitecoats began cowering behind the M-Geeks for protection and I couldn't help but laugh. "Not so tough, now, are you?!" I taunted.

The M-Geeks started advancing again and Dominic started laughing. I looked at him curiously.

"Th-they actually th-think they can d-defeat me!" He said in between guffaws. Then he straightened up his body and started moving his arms in a circular motion with his pointer finger outstretched towards the growing crowd. Little swirls of fire came shooting out at them like dragons, barely singeing the whitecoats coats (just enough to scare them) and destroying M-Geeks by the dozen.

Gazzy started doing a victory dance, singing, "Whoot, whoot! Go DP! Go DP!"

I joined in and soon Dominic had conjured enough fire to have the smoke alarms blaring and the walls turning black in just a few short moments. Once it was obvious that he couldn't be taken down, it seemed as if everyone in the building only wanted to find an escape route.

"Go, go!" Dominic yelled. He ushered us down the hall to the main room where all of his paintings hung. "I'll take care of it!" He promised.

Just as he started to close the heavy door I called, "Thank you Dominic! How can we ever repay you??"

He bowed and said, "My mind duck says no payment necessary." And with that, he left.

We ran across the room to the rusty front door and out into the dirt road again. "U and A!" I announced, and we flew up into the cloudy skies above, watching the smoldering building below us as it became surrounded by firetrucks and giant hoses. I truly did hope Dominic would be okay…

_I liked him!_

Angel told me in my head.

_Yeah, me too. He really helped us out._

I replied.

_He was kinda zany, but he was nice!_

She said.

As we flew back to Arizona, we kept a watchful eye on the sleeping bundle that was Ella. They definitely did something dramatic to her, but the question was: what?

* * *

**BIG reveal next chapter! I, really, truly hope this chapter was up to parr for everyone because I spent a lot of time on it. Because it was extra long and I put a lot of work into, PLEASE REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! If I don't have at least 55 reviews then I probably won't update for a while because I like to know that people are reading my story and enjoying it. So ANY feedback you may have is very much appreciated!**


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